midday
As he stepped out , the page touched him on the arm . `` No ` urry , '' whispered he ; `` all over ! '' Whereupon the tutor quietly crept away to the seclusion of his own room . The household of Maxfield , worn-out by the excitement of the night , slept , or rather lay in bed , till hard on midday . The tutor , as he slowly turned on his side and caught sight of the winter sun through the frost-bespangled window , felt profoundly disinclined to rise . He shrank from the tasks that awaited him -- the task of witnessing the grief of the widow and the pale looks of the orphan heir , the dismal negotiations with undertakers and clergymen and lawyers , the stupid questions of the domestics , the sickly fragrance of stephanotis in the house . Then , too , there was the awkward uncertainty as to his own future .