midnight
Perhaps he would have been happier , better off , if he had never been taken out of that environment and brought to appreciate so keenly another one where he did not belong , and could never stay , since this old environment was the one where he must stay whether he would or no . He put the thought from him as unworthy at once , yet the sharpness of the pang lingered and with it a vision of Starr 's vivid face as he had seen her two nights before in her father 's home , before he knew that the door of that home was shut upon him forever . Michael passed the day in idly wandering about the city trying to piece together his old knowledge , and the new , and know the city in which he had come to dwell . It was nearing midnight , when Michael , by the advice of old Sal , and utterly fearless in his ignorance , entered the court where his babyhood had been spent . The alley was dark and murky with the humidity of the summer night ; but unlike the morning hours it was alive with a writhing , chattering , fighting mass of humanity . Doorways were overflowing . The narrow alley itself seemed fairly thronging with noisy , unhappy men and women .