midnight
Miss Squibb , who opened the door to him , had a look of settled depression on her face that was not , as he at first imagined , due to disapproval of him , but , as he speedily discovered , to a deeply-rooted conviction that the rest of humanity was engaged in a conspiracy to defraud her . She eyed the cabman with so much suspicion that he became uneasy in his mind and deposited the trunk and the bag in the hall in silence , nor did he make any comment on the amount of his fare . Miss Squibb helped John to carry the luggage to his room . Her niece , Lizzie , who usually performed such work , was spending the week-end with another aunt in North London , so Miss Squibb said , and she was due to return before midnight , but Miss Squibb would expect her when she saw her . It would not surprise her to find that Lizzie did not return to her home until Monday evening . Nothing would surprise Miss Squibb . Miss Squibb had long since ceased to be surprised at anything .