midnight
Two occurrences had , however , precipitated matters . One was the stir that Clement had made about the school-boys ' festival , ending in the fine being imposed ; the other , the discovery that the graceful , well-endowed young esquire was the child who had been left to probable beggary with a dying father twenty years previously . Jellicoe , the principal owner of the circus , advanced the money for the fine , on condition of the girl and her mother becoming attached to the circus ; and the object of O'Leary was to make as much profit as possible out of the mystery that hung over the young heir of Vale Leston . His refusal to attend to the claim on him , together with spite at his uncle , as having brought about the prosecution , and to Mr. Flight for hesitating to remunerate the girl for the performance that was to have been free ; perhaps too certain debts and difficulties , all conspired to occasion the midnight flitting in such a manner as to prevent the circus from being pursued . Thenceforth poor Lida 's life had been hopeless misery , with all her womanly and religious instincts outraged , and the probability of worse in future . Jellicoe , his wife , and O'Leary had no pity , and her mother very little , and no principle ; and she had no hope , except that release might come by some crippling accident . Workhouse or hospital would be deliverance , since thence she could write to Mrs. Henderson .