midnight
`` Nothing unpleasant , I trust ? '' said Mr. Palma . `` Thank you , no . Only a summons which obliges me to curtail my visit , and return to Washington by the midnight train . '' Interpreting a look from her stepson , Mrs. Palma hastened the slow course of the dinner by a whisper to the waiter behind her chair ; and as she asked some questions relative to mutual friends residing in Washington , Regina had no opportunity of renewing the conversation . Mr. Roscoe was assiduous in his attentions to Miss St. Clare , and Regina looked over at Olga , who was talking very learnedly to a small gentleman , a prominent and erudite scientist , whose knitted eyebrows now and then indicated dissatisfaction with her careless manner of handling his pet theories . Her cheeks glowed , her eyes sparkled , and a teasing smile sat upon her lips , as she recklessly rolled her irreverent ball among his technical ten pins ; and repeated defiantly : `` Is old Religion but a spectre now , Haunting the solitude of darkened minds , Mocked out of memory by the sceptic day ?