midnight
she cried , in alarm . `` Ay , lassie , an illness called curiosity . I had just been telling Mr. McLean that curiosity is essentially a woman 's ailment , and up you come ahint to prove it . '' He shook a finger at her reprovingly , and was probably still reflecting on woman 's ways when Grizel walked home at midnight breathing through her nose , and Tommy fell asleep with his mouth open . For Tommy could never have stood the doctor 's test of a man . In the painting of him , aged twenty-four , which was exhibited in the Royal Academy , his lips meet firmly , but no one knew save himself how he gasped after each sitting . The ottoman whence , as Gavinia said , Miss Ailie produced the presents she gave to Mr. McLean , stood near the door of the blue-and-white room , with a reel of thread between , to keep them apart forever .