midnight
Take a very practical instance . Here is Lieutenant Colonel Asahel ready on the ground , looking , as his conscience and his backers tell him , `` as fine as a star , and fit to run for his life ; '' at the last moment his opponent pays forfeit . Just ascertain the sentiments of that gallant fusileer . Does the result at all recompense him for the futile privations and wasted asceticism of those long weary months of training -- when pastry was , as it were , an abomination unto him -- when his lips kept themselves undefiled from dryest Champagne or soundest claret -- when he fled , fast as Cinderella , from the pleasantest company at the stroke of the midnight chimes ? Of course he feels deeply injured , and would have forgiven the absentee far more easily if the latter had beaten him fairly , on his merits , breasting the handkerchief first by half a dozen yards . On this principle , Miss Tresilyan labored all that evening under an impression that Keene had treated her very ill , and was prepared to resent it accordingly . Another there besides herself felt puzzled and uncomfortable .