nearly midnight
Of course their ways seem strange to us -- but , then , life in London is so different to life in Norway , -- and we can not all at once understand -- '' she broke off , sighing a little . Then she resumed -- `` Now you will give Morris my message , Britta -- and then come to me in my bedroom -- I am tired , and Philip said I was not to wait up for him . '' Britta departed , and Thelma went rather slowly up-stairs . It was now nearly midnight , and she felt languid and weary . Her reflections began to take a new turn . Suppose she told her husband all that had occurred , he would most certainly go to Sir Francis and punish him in some way -- there might then be a quarrel in which Philip might suffer -- and all sorts of evil consequences would perhaps result from her want of reticence . If , on the other hand , she said nothing , and simply refused to receive Lennox , would not her husband think such conduct on her part strange ?