midnight
It was but a dingy abode , consisting of a narrow sitting-room looking out into the big square from over a covered archway , and a narrower bedroom looking backwards into a dull , dirty-looking , crooked street . Nothing , he thought , could be more melancholy than such a home . But then what did it signify ? His days would be passed in Mr. Die 's chambers , and his evenings would be spent over his law books with closed windows and copious burnings of the midnight oil . For Herbert had wisely resolved that hard work , and hard work alone , could mitigate the misery of his present position . But he had no work for the present day . He could not at once unpack his portmanteau and begin his law studies on the moment .