midnight
He pressed his attentions upon her ; and she , alternately civil and repellent , as her mood went , was regarded by some of the guests in the house as not unlikely to respond to them in the end . Meanwhile he had told his wife the secret of the trust money for his own purposes . Lady Wing , who was an extremely jealous woman , believed at this time that he was merely pretending a passion for Mrs. Sparling in order the more securely to plunder what still remained of the six thousand pounds . She therefore aided and abetted him ; and _ her _ plan , no doubt , was to wait till they and their accomplices had absorbed the last of Mrs. Sparling 's money , and then to make a midnight flitting , leaving their victim to her fate . `` The _ dénouement _ , however , came with frightful rapidity . The Wings had taken an old house at the back of the downs for the summer , no doubt to escape from some of the notoriety they had gained in Brighton . There -- to her final ruin -- Juliet Sparling was induced to join them , and gambling began again ; she still desperately hoping to replace the trust money , and salving her conscience , as to her sister , by drawing for the time on the sums lent her by Francis Wing .