nearly midnight
`` Well -- be it so : I would rather the fault were mine than hers . But I will not see her again to-day if I can help it . So good-b ` ye , Helen : my lady must excuse my toilet ; -- I can not dress and then walk through Oakley lane . '' It was very nearly midnight when Mowbray returned from his visit to Sir Gilbert Harrington 's . To his great surprise , he found Helen waiting for him , even in the hall ; for the moment she heard the door-bell she ran out to meet him . `` Why are you up so late , Helen ? '' he exclaimed : `` and for Heaven 's sake tell me what makes you look so pale .