midnight
`` I see , '' she whispered , `` you do n't want me -- you could n't -- _ you _ -- _ never _ -- _ did _ ! '' And at that instant the blood bond in Andrew Sevier 's breast snapped and with an awed comprehension of the vast and everlasting Source from which flows the love that constrains and the love that heals , the love that only comes to bind in honor , he reached out and took his own . In the seventh heaven which is the soul haunt of all in like case , there was no need of word mating . Hours later , one by one the lights in the houses along the avenue twinkled out and the street lay in the grasp of the after midnight silence . Only a bright light still burned at the major 's table , which was piled high with books into which he was delving with the hunger of many long hours of deprivation strong upon him . He had scouted the idea of the ball , had donned dressing-gown and slippers and gone back to the company of his Immortals with alacrity . On their return Mrs. Buchanan and the girls had found him buried in his tomes ten deep and it was with difficulty that Phoebe , kneeling beside him on one side , and Caroline on the other , made him listen to their joint tale of modern romance , to which Mrs. Matilda played the part of a joyous commentator .