few minutes after midnight
`` Good-by . '' `` There 's no understandin ' wimmin , '' mused David , as his victoria swept through the gates of Linden House . `` Sunday afternoon Dickey might ha ' bin a dose of rat poison ; now she 's ready to swaller ` im as if ' e was a chocolate drop . '' Again he returned some few minutes after midnight ; again the servant announced Mr. Bulmer 's visits , three of them ; and again Miss Iris had been absent -- in fact , she had not yet come home . `` Not ` ome ! '' cried David furiously . `` W ' y it 's gone twelve .