midnight
he inquired as they seated themselves at the breakfast-table . `` He is not here , '' she answered . `` He , too , was called away unexpectedly . He went to London by the midnight train . '' She had never been so aware of her unchristian lack of liking for Captain Palliser as she was when he paused a moment before he made any comment . His pause was as marked as a start , and the smile he indulged in was , she felt , most singularly disagreeable . It was a smile of the order which conceals an unpleasant explanation of itself .