midnight
As Christian walked rapidly across the uneven turf towards the sea at midnight , his thoughts were divided between a schoolboy delight in the adventurous nature of his expedition and an uncomfortable sensation of surreptitiousness . He was not accustomed to this sort of work , and felt remarkably like a thief . If by some mischance his absence was discovered at the Hall , it would be difficult to account for it unless he played the part of a temporary lunatic . Fortunately his window communicated easily enough with the garden by means of a few stone steps , but visitors are not usually in the habit of leaving their bedrooms in order to take the air at midnight . Thinking over these things in his rapid and rather superficial way , he unconsciously quickened his pace . The night was clear and starlit ; the air soft and very pleasant , with a faint breath of freshness from the south-west . The moon , being well upon the wane , would not rise for an hour or more , but the heavens were glowing with the gentler light of stars , and on earth the darkness was of that transparent description which sailors prefer to the brightest moonlight .