about midnight
`` Sister , sister , '' he kept repeating to himself , and as he did so , his resentful indignation grew toward the man who had so cruelly deceived her , until at last he abruptly left the room , lest his hot temper should get the mastery , and he knock down his dastardly brother-in-law , as he greatly wished to do . It was a sad house at Spring Bank that night , and only the negroes were capable of any enjoyment . Terrified at first at what by dint of listening they saw and heard , they assembled in the kitchen , and together rehearsed the strange story , wondering if none of the tempting supper prepared with so much care would be touched by the whites . If not , they , of course , had the next best right , and when about midnight Mrs. Worthington passed hurriedly through the dining-room , the table gave evidence that somebody had partaken of the marriage feast , and not very sparingly either . But she did not care , her thoughts were divided between the distant Adah , her daughter -- her own -- the little brown-eyed child she had been so proud of years ago , and the moaning , wretched girl upstairs , ` Lina , tossing distractedly from side to side ; now holding her throbbing head , and now thrusting out her hot , dry hands , as if to keep off some fancied form , whose hair , she said , was white as snow , and who claimed to be her mother . The shock had been a terrible one to ` Lina -- terrible in more senses than one . She did love Dr. Richards ; and the losing him was enough of itself to drive her mad ; but worse even than this , and far more humiliating to her pride , was the discovery of her parentage , the knowing that a convict was her father , a common servant her mother , and that no marriage tie had hallowed her birth .