midnight
Must she bear this ? But his back is to her -- he is wilfully blind and deaf . The courage to take up the gauntlet for his wife , to make a scene , to silence his cousin , is a courage he does not possess . Under the midnight stars Lady Helena 's guests drive home . In the carriage of Sir Victor Catheron there is dead silence . Ethel , shrinking from her husband almost as much as from his cousin , lies back in a corner , pale and mute . Inez Catheron 's dauntless black eyes look up at the white , countless stars as she softly hums a tune .