midnight
-- `` Necessity , '' replied Eustace , with a look of deep contrition . `` That is a bad plea , '' returned the nobleman , `` and urged with a bad grace , by those who refuse to admit it as an excuse for the crimes of rebels . In this instance too , I fear it is a false one . I know you are one of the party , who distinguish themselves by their midnight carousals in Major Monthault 's quarters . The necessity which arises from dissipation , can never be urged to excuse peculation . '' `` Place me in the forlorn hope , '' said Eustace , `` the first time you have any desperate service , and let me expiate my crime . '' `` So keen a sense of it , '' resumed Lord Hopton , `` is its own punishment .