midnight
`` Perfectly , but -- '' `` There is no ` but , ' Captain Wayne , only do not fail me . '' Our eyes met for an instant ; what she read in mine God knows -- in hers was determination , with a daring strange to woman . The next moment she had vanished through a side door , and I was alone . A GLANCE at my watch told me that it was already within a few moments of midnight . There was , however , no diminution in the festivities , and I waited in silence until I heard the sentries calling the hour , and then pressed my way back into the noisy , crowded ballroom . I was stopped twice by well-meaning officers whom I had met earlier in the evening , but breaking away from them after the exchange of a sentence or two , I urged my course as directly as possible toward where the spectacled brigadier yet held his post as master of ceremonies . We had been conversing pleasantly for several minutes when Mrs. Brennan appeared .