midnight
`` Mother , I can do nothing of the kind . If necessary , I 'll go for a governess as well . '' Thereupon Zillah wept , protesting that such desecration was impossible . The scene prolonged itself to midnight . On the morrow , with the exception of Mrs. Denyer 's resolve to subdue Marsh , all was forgotten , and the Denyer family pursued their old course , putting off decided action until there should come another cry of `` Wolf ! '' But for the aid of his wife 's more sympathetic insight , Edward Spence would have continued to interpret Miriam 's cheerless frame of mind as a mere result of impatience at being removed from the familiar scenes of her religious activity , and of disquietude amid uncongenial surroundings . `` A Puritan at Naples '' -- that was the phrase which represented her to his imagination ; his liking for the picturesque and suggestive led him to regard her solely in that light .