midnight
`` Well , after all , you have been sponging off them for a full year . The adjective is not ill-chosen , from what I hear . I fancy Mrs. Hardress has found you better company after she had mixed a few drinks for you , and so -- But a truce to moral reflections ! for I am desirous once more to hear the chimes at midnight . I hear Francine is in Milan ? '' `` There is at any rate in Milan , '' said I , `` a magnificent Gothic Cathedral of international reputation ; and upon the upper gallery of its tower , as my guidebook informs me , there is a watchman with an efficient telescope . Should I fail to meet that watchman , John , I would feel that I had lived futilely .