midnight
I shall understand , if you will give me time and not hurry me . And , when I understand , indeed , indeed , you may trust me , whatever it costs , to do right . '' Just then Mary opened the door , entering quickly , and behind her came Dr. McCabe , to find Damaris talking , talking wildly , sitting up , parched and vivid with fever , in the disordered bed . Cross-country connections by rail were not easy to make , with the consequence that Sir Charles Verity , -- Hordle , gun-cases , bags and portmanteaux , in attendance -- did not reach The Hard until close upon midnight . Hearing the brougham at last drive up , Theresa Bilson felt rapturously fluttered . Her course had been notably empty of situations and of adventure ; drama , as in the case of so many ladies of her profession -- the pages of fiction notwithstanding -- conspicuously cold-shouldering and giving her the go-by . Now , drama , and that of richest quality might perhaps -- for she admitted the existence of awkward conjunctions -- be said to batter at her door .