midnight
Curious eyes were cast on Diana Pitkin , and many were the whispers and speculations as to the part she might have had in the move ; and certainly she looked paler and graver than usual , and some thought they could detect traces of tears on her cheeks . Some noticed in the tones of her voice that day , as they rose in the soprano , a tremor and pathos never remarked before -- the unconscious utterance of a new sense of sorrow , awakened in a soul that up to this time had never known a grief . For the letter had fallen on the heads of the Pitkin household like a thunderbolt . Biah came in to breakfast and gave it to Mrs. Pitkin , saying that James had handed him that last night , on his way over to take the midnight stage to Salem , where he was going to sail on the _ Eastern Star _ to-day -- no doubt he 's off to sea by this time . A confused sound of exclamations went up around the table , while Mrs. Pitkin , pale and calm , read the letter and then passed it to her husband without a word . The bright , fixed color in Diana 's face had meanwhile been slowly ebbing away , till , with cheeks and lips pale as ashes , she hastily rose and left the table and went to her room . A strange , new , terrible pain -- a sensation like being choked or smothered -- a rush of mixed emotions -- a fearful sense of some inexorable , unalterable crisis having come of her girlish folly -- overwhelmed her .