midnight before
Totty gave looks that were not unkind , but did not make advances ; she was a little ashamed of the way she had behaved when Lydia came to her for help . Lydia did not think it necessary to tell Gilbert that she too wanted to let someone know that there was news from Thyrza . After leaving the parlour , she ran out to a little shop in Kennington Road and purchased a sheet of note-paper and an envelope . Writing a letter was by no means a simple thing to Lyddy ; it was after midnight before she had schemed the sentences -- or rather , the one long hyper-Attic sentence -- in which she should convey her intelligence to Ackroyd . Several things were to be considered in this composition . First , it must be as brief as possible ; then , it must be very formal in its mode of address . Both these necessities came of the consideration that the letter would of course be shown to Totty Nancarrow , and Totty must have no cause of complaint .