midnight
It might be that at some future time they would somehow have the money to pay for it all . Meanwhile every tradesman continued to give them unlimited credit . After making their purchases , the officers usually met in a certain restaurant , where they broke the necks of a few bottles of good wine . And often it would happen that they boarded the midnight train , being in a decidedly animated mood , returning to their garrison . One night Lieutenant Müller , the regimental adjutant , found an official telegram on his reaching home , and was obliged , despite the late hour , to go to the chief clerk of the regiment , in order to talk over its contents . There had been a heavy fall of snow , and the keen east wind drove the snowflakes in a wild dance through the cold air . It was all one could do to recognize the path .