midnight
Dorothy , indeed , spent most of her hours beside her aunt 's bed , instigating sleep by the reading of a certain series of sermons in which Miss Stanbury had great faith ; but nevertheless , there were some minutes in which she and Brooke were necessarily together . They eat their meals in each other 's company , and there was a period in the evening , before Dorothy began her night-watch in her aunt 's room , at which she took her tea while Martha was nurse in the room above . At this time of the day she would remain an hour or more with Brooke ; and a great deal may be said between a man and a woman in an hour when the will to say it is there . Brooke Burgess had by no means changed his mind since he had declared it to Hugh Stanbury under the midnight lamps of Long Acre , when warmed by the influence of oysters and whisky toddy . The whisky toddy had in that instance brought out truth and not falsehood , -- as is ever the nature of whisky toddy and similar dangerous provocatives . There is no saying truer than that which declares that there is truth in wine . Wine is a dangerous thing , and should not be made the exponent of truth , let the truth be good as it may ; but it has the merit of forcing a man to show his true colours .