midnight
Before ten o'clock the rest of the family crept away to bed . Mr. Wesley sat on in his study . This was the night of the week on which he composed his Sunday morning 's sermon . He wrote at it steadily until midnight . Next morning , about an hour after breakfast , Mrs. Wesley heard the hand-bell rung in the study -- the sound for which -LRB- it seemed to her -RRB- she had been listening in affright for two long days . She went at once . In the passage she met Johnny Whitelamb coming out .