midnight
But here was a new phase ; Mrs. Mortimer , whom he had expected to use , and if necessary sacrifice , had suddenly turned vicious . And he now hated her as coldly as he hated Major Belwether for betraying suspicions of a similar nature . As for Plank , fear and hatred of him was becoming hatred and contempt . He had the means of checking Plank if Mortimer did not drop dead before midnight . There remained Sylvia , whom he had selected as the fittest object attainable to transmit his name . Long ago , whatever of liking , of affection , of passion he had ever entertained for her had quieted to indifference and the unemotional contemplation of a future methodically arranged for . Now of a sudden , this young girl he had bought -- he knowing what she sold and what he was paying for -- had become exposed to the infection of a suspicion concerning himself and another woman ; a woman unmarried , and of his own caste , and numbered among her own friends .