Nearly midnight
Besides he remembered him as a hard man of whom both Margaret and ` Lias -- soft , sensitive creatures -- were both more or less afraid . No , there should be no doubt about it -- not a day 's doubt , if he could help it ! He could help , and he would ; and if they asked him more he would give it . Nearly midnight ! But if he ran out to the General Post Office it would be in time . When he had posted it and was walking home , his anger was all gone . But in its stead was the smart of a baffled instinct -- the hunger for sympathy , for love , for that common everyday life of the affections which had never been his , while it came so easily to other people .