midnight before
`` I realized the impossibility of explaining the matter to him , and running back to the place where I had got over the fence I climbed into the yard and entered the shed . Fortunately the policeman paid no further attention to my movements after I left him . I sat down on the empty cradle and stared up through the opening in the roof , hoping against hope to see them coming back . It must have been midnight before I gave up my vigil in despair , and went home , sorely puzzled , and blaming myself for having kept my suspicions unuttered . I finally got to sleep , but I had horrible dreams . `` The next day I was up early looking through all the papers in the hope of finding something about the car . But there was not a word .