midnight
She was proud and arrogant , and she had no idea of relinquishing her social pre-eminence -- not too easily won -- in the town to which William Holton had brought her to live out her life . One or two of the old families had never received her with any cordiality , clearly by reason of the old scandal . And where there are only seventeen thousand people in a town the indifference of two or three , when they happen to include a woman like Mrs. King , was not to be ignored or borne without rancor . William 's indignation was intensified as he reviewed Jack 's disclosures from the angle his wife had drawn for him in the midnight conference . His curiosity was sharpened , however , as to the subsequent relationship of Jack and Lois Kirkwood . Seattle is a long way from Montgomery and lines of communication few and slight . Samuel , returning from his visits to the coast , had usually been too full of his own schemes to furnish any satisfactory details of Jack and his wife .