midnight
`` Jerome , this is a sorry visit you have made me , '' continued the doctor . `` Are you entirely lost to all shame , that you could thus enter my house with a band of ruffians behind you ? '' `` Father , '' said the convicted Vernon , `` I did not know it was your house , or I could never have done it . '' `` Alas , that a son of mine should have become a midnight assassin ! '' and Dr. Vaudelier covered his face with his hands , and sobbed like a child . `` Forgive me , father ! '' exclaimed the repentant son .