midnight
It was no doubt her very ignorance of the world that , when suspicion had once occurred , made her reject as unimportant these evidences of his respectability , but he had no power to give her the eyes of experience . These thoughts tormented him as he stood looking out of the window at the ever-increasing volume of the snow . How long would he be detained a prisoner in this house , and , when the roads were free , how could he find for Madge any absolute proof of his innocence ? The track of the midnight thief was lost for ever in the snow ; if he had succeeded in escaping as mysteriously as he had come -- but here Courthope 's mind refused again to enter upon the problem of the fiend-like enemy and the impassable snowfields , which in the hours of darkness he had already given up , perceiving the futility of his speculation until further facts were known . Courthope strolled through the rooms , the doors of which were now open . Morin permitted this scant liberty chiefly , the prisoner thought , because of a wholesome fear of being kicked . In the library at the back of the drawing-room he found amusement in reading the titles of the books down one long shelf and up another .