midnight
She was so pathetic in her sobbing and bewailing , that I felt as if I had said I do n't know what to hurt her . I was obliged to hurry away ; I was kept out late ; and I felt all night such pangs of remorse as made me miserable . I had the conscience of an assassin , and was haunted by a vague sense of enormous wickedness . It was two or three hours past midnight when I got home . I found my aunt , in our house , sitting up for me . ` Is anything the matter , aunt ? ' said I , alarmed .