midnight
`` And why not speak it now ? '' said Isabella ; `` do you fear I would flinch from the sacrifice of fortune for your preservation ? or would you bequeath me the bitter legacy of life-long remorse , so oft as I shall think that you perished , while there remained one mode of preventing the dreadful misfortune that overhangs you ? '' `` Then , my child , '' said Vere , `` since you press me to name what I would a thousand times rather leave in silence , I must inform you that he will accept for ransom nothing but your hand in marriage , and that conferred before midnight this very evening ! '' `` This evening , sir ? '' said the young lady , struck with horror at the proposal -- `` and to such a man ! -- A man ?