midnight
`` Everard ! '' `` Quite true . But for the direct interposition of Providence , in the shape of a handsome lad in velveteen , who shot my assailant , I would be lying now in Brithlow Wood yonder , as dead as any Kingsland in the family vault . '' And then , while Lady Kingsland gazed at him breathlessly , Sir Everard related his midnight adventure . `` Good heavens ! '' my lady cried , clasping him in her arms . `` Oh , to think what might have happened !