midnight
You 'll take me , then ? '' `` You can move in right away , '' said Mrs. Brashear recklessly . So the Brashear rooming-house took into its carefully guarded interior the young and unknown Mr. Banneker -- who had not been sleeping well . Nor did he seem to be sleeping well in his new quarters , since his light was to be seen glowing out upon the quiet street until long after midnight ; yet he was usually up betimes , often even before the moving spirit of the house , herself . A full week had he been there before his fellow lodgers , self-constituted into a Committee on Membership , took his case under consideration in full session upon the front steps . None had had speech with him , but it was known that he kept irregular hours . `` What 's his job : that 's what I 'd like to know , '' demanded in a tone of challenge , young Wickert , a man of the world who clerked in the decorative department of a near-by emporium .