about midnight
The young fellow had merely bowed to Marian , and now said , `` I can not wonder at your surprise , remembering the condition in which I presented myself last night . '' `` Condition ? I do not understand . '' Marian laughed , as she said : `` Papa came in about midnight in scarcely better plight . In brief , you were both exhausted , and with good reason . '' `` But you did not tell me , Marian -- '' `` No , '' she interrupted ; `` nothing but a life-and-death emergency should have made me tell you anything last night . '' `` Why , our little girl is becoming a soldier and a strategist .