midnight
`` You 'll love me , '' she said , almost fiercely , one night to the children -- `` you 'll love mamma , no matter how cross and homely she gets , wo n't you ? '' The cold grew day by day . A strong winter was setting in . Catherine took up her study of medicine again , and sat over her books till midnight . It occurred to her that she might fit herself for nursing by spring , and that the children could be put with some one -- she did not dare to think with whom . But this was the only solution she could find to her problem of existence . November settled down drearily .