nearly midnight
Why should n't the old friends go in to ask after her ? Hutton -- that old butler that has been with Aunt Flora for twenty years -- _ asked _ us to come in . '' `` Then he did what he had no business to do , and he deserves to be dismissed at a day 's notice . Why , Lady Henry tells me that it was a regular party -- that the room was all arranged for it by that most audacious young woman -- that the servants were ordered about -- that it lasted till nearly midnight , and that the noise you all made positively woke Lady Henry out of her sleep . Really , Evelyn , that you should have been mixed up in such an affair is more unpalatable to me than I can find words to describe . '' And he paced , fuming , up and down before her . `` Anybody else than Aunt Flora would have laughed , '' said the Duchess , defiantly .