twelve o'clock
The time fled by rapidly . Lord Chetwynde made a move to return at about eleven o'clock , but Obed would not allow him . He made him stay that night at the villa . Although Lord Chetwynde was always out by day , yet he had always returned to his rooms at night , and therefore it was a matter of surprise to Hilda , on this eventful night , that twelve o'clock came without any signs of his return . In her wild and ungovernable passion her whole life had now grown to be one long internal struggle , in which it was with difficulty that she kept down the stormy feelings within her . This night she had grown more nervous than usual . It was as though she had attained to the culmination of the long excitements through which she had passed .