midnight
Over their beer and cheese they had chatted of old days at boarding-school and college , and this contact with the large , healthy nature of Flemming , which threw off depression as sunshine dissipates mist , had sent Lynde 's vapors flying . Nothing was changed in the circumstances that had distressed him , yet some way a load had removed itself from his bosom . He was sorry he had mentioned that dark business at all . As he threaded the deserted streets -- it was long after midnight -- he planned a dinner to be given in his rooms the next day , and formulated a note of invitation to the ladies , which he would write when he got back to the hotel , and have in readiness for early delivery in the morning . Lynde was in one of those lightsome moods which , in that varying month , had not unfrequently followed a day of doubt and restless despondency . As he turned into the Quai des Bergues he actually hummed a bar or two of opera . He had not done that before in six weeks .