midnight
It was a period of brooding , of mewing my youth , and whatever facility of imagination and expression I have since attained I owe very much to my hermitage in Albert Street . If I walked in those days it was by night . London at night is a very different place from the town of business and pleasure of ordinary acquaintance . During the day I fulfilled my allotted hours at the desk ; but immediately they were over I returned to my lodgings , got out my books , and sat enthralled until somewhere near midnight . But then , instead of going to bed , I was called by the night , and forth I sallied all agog . I walked the city , the embankment , skirted the parks , unless I were so fortunate as to slip in before gate-shutting . Often I was able to remain in Kensington Gardens till the opening hour .