midnight
BOOK I It was four o'clock in the morning . Mrs. Walter Majendie still lay on the extreme edge of the bed , with her face turned to the dim line of sea discernible through the open window of the hotel bedroom . Since midnight , when she had gone to bed , she had lain in that uncomfortable position , motionless , irremediably awake . Mrs. Walter Majendie was thinking . At first the night had gone by her unperceived , black and timeless . Now she could measure time by the dull progress of the dawn among the objects in the room .