midnight
Then she added in her hard harlot 's voice : `` You need n't worry your head about _ him , _ there ! Leave him to me ! It 's my trade ! '' At those words , which covered God only knows what horrors of midnight disappearances , of ghoulish rites with packing-case and sack , in the dark cellars of that evil house , I felt that , could I but draw back from the enterprise to which I had so rashly committed myself , I would do so gladly . Only then did I begin to realize something of the utter ruthlessness , the cold , calculating ferocity , of the most bitter and most powerful enemy which the British Empire has ever had . But it was too late to withdraw now . The die was cast .