midnight
`` You seem to know a great deal about her , '' the secretary said . `` All her life each day I know , '' answered Ram Dass . `` Her going out I know , and her coming in ; her sadness and her poor joys ; her coldness and her hunger . I know when she sits alone until midnight , learning from her books ; I know when her secret friends steal to her and she is happier -- as children can be , even in the midst of poverty -- because they come and she may laugh and talk with them in whispers . If she were ill I should know , and I would come and serve her if it might be done . '' `` You are sure no one comes near this place but herself , and that she will not return and surprise us . She would be frightened if she found us here , and the Sahib Carrisford 's plan would be spoiled . ''