midnight
Then , towards midnight , long after all staid and sensible people were abed , the flood would roll back , faster yet under the quiet moon , louder yet through the frosty air . But he never met the Circassian beauty , and he would have found `` l'Africaine , '' for example , both tedious and unreasonable . To him each of these publics was new , and no less new than alien . Besides , it would have seemed an uncanny thing to be abroad and stirring at midnight . Why did he go to bed at half-past nine ? In order that he might be at the store by half-past seven . Why must he be at the store by half-past seven ?