midnight
`` After all , why not celebrate ? It 's the last day of the year and it wo n't come again for twelve months . '' It was close upon midnight . Jerome Fandor , reporter on the popular newspaper , _ La Capitale _ , was strolling along the boulevard ; he had just come from a banquet , one of those official and deadly affairs at which the guests are obliged to listen to interminable speeches . He had drowsed through the evening and at the first opportunity had managed to slip away quickly . The theatres were just out and the boulevard was crowded with people intent on making a night of it .