midnight
`` Write a book ! '' he cried to her , his gentle face suddenly white with passion . `` Who am I to commit such a profanation ? '' She did n't know what he meant , but she had a theory that it was dangerous to excite him , and so she sat up till midnight to cook a chop for him when he came home that night . He preferred to have her sitting up for him , and he wanted every electric light in their apartments turned to the full . If , by any chance , they returned together to a dark house , he would not enter till she touched the button in the hall , and illuminated the room . Or if it so happened that the lights were turned off in the night time , and he awoke to find himself in darkness , he shrieked till the woman came running to his relief , and , with derisive laughter , turned them on again .