midnight
The house at Hanaford , to which she was returning , would look at her with the same alien face -- nowhere on earth , at that moment , was a door which would open to her like the door of home . In her painful self-absorption she followed the side street toward Madison Avenue , and struck southward down that tranquil thoroughfare . There was a physical relief in rapid motion , and she walked on , still hardly aware of her direction , toward the clustered lights of Madison Square . Should she return to Hanaford , she had still several hours to dispose of before the departure of the midnight train ; and if she did not return , hours and dates no longer existed for her . It would be easier -- infinitely easier -- not to go back . To take up her life with Amherst would , under any circumstances , be painful enough ; to take it up under the tacit restriction of her pledge to Mr. Langhope seemed more than human courage could face . As she approached the square she had almost reached the conclusion that such a temporary renewal was beyond her strength -- beyond what any standard of duty exacted .