midnight
He had heard from Mrs. Johnson 's daughter that some ladies were going over the house , and not caring to meet them , he stepped into the recess of the window just as Edith entered the library . As the eye of the stranger fell upon her , he came near uttering an exclamation of surprise that anything so graceful , so queenly , and withal so wondrously beautiful , should be found in Shannondale , which , with the city ideas still clinging to him , seemed like an out-of-the-way place , where the girls were buxom , good-natured and hearty , just as he remembered Kitty Maynard to have been , and not at all like this creature of rare loveliness sitting there before him , her head inclined gracefully to the volume she was reading , and showing to good advantage her magnificent hair . `` Who can she be ? '' he thought , and a thrill of unwonted admiration ran through his veins as Edith raised for a moment her large eyes of midnight blackness , and from his hiding-place he saw how soft and mild they were in their expression , `` Can Grace have spirited to her retreat some fair nymph for company ? Hark ! I hear her voice , and now for the solution of the mystery . '' Standing back a little further , so as to escape observation , the young man waited till Grace Atherton came near .