midnight
And hardly had he breathed the word when a gleam of his old luck seemed to return . He was standing by the window , and presently he observed a groom ride up on a bicycle , dismount , and push it through an outhouse door . Then the man strolled off , and he said to himself , with an uprising of his spirits -- `` There 's my steed -- if I could once get to it ! '' Then again he thought the situation over , and gradually the prospect of a midnight ride on a bicycle over a road he had only once traversed , clad in his emblazoned socks and blue-lapelled coat , appeared rather less entertaining than another night 's confinement . So he lit his last cigar , threw himself on the bed , and resigned himself to the consolations of an innocent heart and a practical philosophy . The clearness of the Count 's conscience may be gauged when it is narrated that no sooner had he dismissed the stump of his cigar toward the grate than he dropped into a peaceful doze and remained placidly unconscious of his perils for the space of an hour or more . He was then awakened by the sound of a key being gently turned , and his opening eyes rested upon a charming vision of Julia Wallingford framed in the outline of the door .