midnight
That satisfied him . `` Oh ! we wo n't be in a hurry , '' he said , and named a day within a month ; and not liking their unready faces , laughed , and dismissed the idea aloud , as if he had not earnestly been entertaining it . The ladies of Brookfield held no more their happy , energetic midnight consultations . They had begun to crave for sleep and a snatch of forgetfulness , the scourge being daily on their flesh : and they had now no plans to discuss ; they had no distant horizon of low vague lights that used ever to be beyond their morrow . They kissed at the bedroom door of one , and separated . Silence was their only protection to the Nice Feelings , now that Fine Shades had become impossible .