midnight
This , of course , would be to fly before the inevitable `` phase , '' much more than to face it ; but Olive decided that if they should reach unscathed the term of their delay -LRB- the first of July -RRB- she should have faced it as much as either justice or generosity demanded . I may as well say at once that she traversed most of this period without further serious alarms and with a great many little thrills of bliss and hope . Nothing happened to dissipate the good omens with which her partnership with Verena Tarrant was at present surrounded . They threw themselves into study ; they had innumerable big books from the Athenæum , and consumed the midnight oil . Henry Burrage , after Verena had shaken her head at him so sweetly and sadly , returned to New York , giving no sign ; they only heard that he had taken refuge under the ruffled maternal wing . -LRB- Olive , at least , took for granted the wing was ruffled ; she could fancy how Mrs. Burrage would be affected by the knowledge that her son had been refused by the daughter of a mesmeric healer . She would be almost as angry as if she had learnt that he had been accepted . -RRB-