midnight
`` Our spirits had gone down considerably since the morning . We were very tired , and that has _ very _ much more to do with people 's spirits than almost any one realises . '' ` It would n't matter if we were going to friends , ' said Mary . ` But it does seem very strange and desolate -- we two poor things , two days before Christmas , arriving at midnight in a perfectly strange place , and nowhere to go to but an inn . ' '' ` But think how nice it will be , getting home to mother again -- particularly if we 've settled it all nicely about the house , ' I said . `` And Mary told me I was a good little thing , and she was very glad to have me with her . It was not usual for me to be the braver of the two , but you see I felt my responsibilities on this occasion to be great , and was determined to show myself worthy of them .