midnight
So let this delicate affair alone to me : Parley is a softly fellow , he must not be frightened , but cajoled . He is the very sort of a man to succeed with ; and worth a hundred of your sturdy , sensible fellows . With them we want strong arguments and strong temptations ; but with such fellows as Parley , in whom vanity and sensuality are the leading qualities -LRB- as , let me tell you , is the case with far the greater part -RRB- flattery and a promise of ease and pleasure , will do more than your whole battle array . If you will let me manage , I will get you all into the castle before midnight . '' At night the castle was barricaded as usual , and no one had observed the hole which Parley had made in the hedge . This oversight arose that night from the servants ' neglecting one of the master 's standing orders -- to make a nightly examination of the state of things . The neglect did not proceed so much from willful disobedience , as from having passed the evening in sloth and diversion , which often amounts to nearly the same in its consequences .