midnight
It is so much pleasanter than being stewed up in a brougham . How I wish it was the fashion for people to take their bonnets out to dinner with them , and walk back in the cool fresh air ! If it is delightful even in winter , how much more so in the hot summer nights of the season ! Your spirits rise and your nerves brace themselves as you inhale the midnight air , with all its smoky particles , pure by comparison with that which has just been poisoning you in a crowded drawing-room . Your cavalier asks leave to indulge in his `` weed , '' and you enjoy its fragrance at second-hand as he puffs contentedly away and chats on in that prosy , confidential sort of manner which no _ man _ ever succeeds in assuming , save with a cigar in his mouth . John lit his , of course , but was less communicative , to my fancy , than usual . After asking me if I had `` enjoyed a pleasant evening , '' and whether `` I _ preferred _ walking , '' he relapsed into a somewhat constrained silence .