midnight
He was very cold , but he was not sensible of it or of the hunger that was gnawing his little empty entrails . He was absorbed in the wondrous sight , in the wondrous sounds , that he had seen and heard . All was dark around him . Was it still midnight or had morning come ? Morning , surely ; for against the barred shutters he heard the tiny song of the robin . Tramp , tramp , too , came a heavy step up the stair . He had but a moment in which to scramble back into the interior of the great stove , when the door opened and the two dealers entered , bringing burning candles with them to see their way .