midnight
He stood there in the shadow , gazing at the murky house , heedless of the bitter wind and pelting rain , and felt his life and spirit pass out of his control into an unknown dominion . The storm that raged around him was nothing to the convulsion of his inner self in that hour of madness , which was yet happiness . Yet as it had arisen thus suddenly , so with equal swiftness it died away , and left him standing there with a chill sense of folly in his mind and of the bitter weather in his body ; for on such a night a mackintosh and a dress coat were not adapted to keep the most ardent lover warm . He shivered , and turning , made his way back to Albany , feeling heartily ashamed of himself and his midnight expedition , and heartily glad that no one knew of it except himself . On the following day Bottles -- for convenience ' sake we still call him by his old nickname -- was obliged to see a lawyer with reference to the money which he had inherited , and to search for a box which had gone astray aboard the steamer ; also to buy a tall hat , such as he had not worn for fourteen years ; so that between one thing and another it was half-past four before he got back to the Albany . Here he donned the new hat , which did not fit very well , and a new black coat which fitted so well that it seemed to cut into his large frame in every possible direction , and departed , furiously struggling with a pair of gloves , also new , for Grosvenor Street . A quarter of an hour 's walk , for he knew the road this time , brought him to the house .