midnight
`` No . '' `` I shall stay , then , till you go to sleep . '' Night after night he heard her calling to him , `` Nicky , I 'm frightened . '' Nobody but Veronica and Nicky were ever in bed on that floor before midnight . Night after night he got up and came to her and stayed beside her till she went to sleep . Once he said , `` If it was Michael he could tell you stories . '' `` I do n't _ want _ Michael .