midnight
Hard , hard is it to be robbed of my son -- robbed -- '' and the old man checks himself as though the word recalled some painful associations . `` Ay , father , '' was the reply , `` you know our old Croatian proverb , ' He who steals is but a borrower . ' Nevertheless , I do not wish the Austrians to ' borrow ' me , in case I should never be returned ; and it is unmannerly for the lieutenant to occupy the same quarters as the general . I must be off before dawn ; but surely it can not be midnight yet . '' `` In less than an hour the day will break , my son . I have concealed you here because not a servant of the household dare set foot in the Ghost 's Gallery till daylight , and you are safe ; but twenty-four more hours must see you on the Danube , and you must come here no more . Oh , my boy !