midnight
... '' _ And she paid my car fare ! _ '' It was intolerable . `` I must send her five cents , somehow ! '' She sat on the floor , leaning against Maurice 's chair , until midnight ; the log burned through , broke apart , and smoldered into ashes . Once she put her cheek down on the broad arm of the chair , then kissed it -- for his hand had rested on it ! -- his dear young hand -- In the deepening chilliness , watching the ashes , she ached with the sense of her last failure ; but most of the time she thought of Edith , and of what she believed she had read in those humorous , candid eyes . `` She dared , _ before me _ !