midnight
The curse of Eve being upon my poor mother in those days , she was unable to follow her husband . Pride forbade her appealing to her neighbours , so on me devolved the duty of tracking my father from one pub to another and bringing him home . Had I done justice to my mother 's training I would have honoured my paternal parent in spite of all this , but I am an individual ever doing things I ought n't at the time I should n't . Coming home , often after midnight , with my drunken father talking maudlin conceited nonsense beside me , I developed curious ideas on the fifth commandment . Those journeys in the spring-cart through the soft faint starlight were conducive to thought . My father , like most men when under the influence of liquor , would allow no one but himself to handle the reins , and he was often so incapable that he would keep turning the horse round and round in the one place . It is a marvel we never met with an accident .