midnight
Shall I wield a whip of legal scorpions before your son , should he seek to re-enter Stillyside ? Would you have me , as once Heaven 's cherubim stood at the gates of Paradise , with fiery swords turning all ways , to hinder its ejected tenants from breaking back into the garden , -- would you have me , I say , stand at my gates at Stillyside , and , meeting young Montigny , flourish in his face a fist full of fasces , in the form of threatened pains and penalties ? No ; your suit , sir , is denied : you take nothing by your motion . '' `` Dare you deny , '' retorted the seigneur , loudly , and with a look of coming triumph ; `` dare you deny that you are privy to their intimacy ; will you assert that you -- yourself unseen -- have not witnessed my son in secret , midnight conversation with your ward at Stillyside ; there overheard them interchanging vows of endless love , and dealing declarations of devotedness unto each other ; -- I ask you ; did you not hear and see these doings , and , even when you did at length surprise the pair , did you not by failing to condemn their folly , give it your silent sanction ? '' `` Something of this I did , '' said the advocate coolly , `` for I remembered some rather liberal breathings of my own when I was young , -- and youth will have its fling , -- nay , do not bite your lip , but listen . Monsieur Montigny , thus far we have met guile with guile . Just like two wily fencers , both of us , waiting to spy our advantage , have still witheld the lunge , until , at last , you , having grown desperate , have rushed into the close .