midnight
`` I 'm sorry to disoblige a lady , '' he said ; `` but you do n't go out of this house to-night . '' In another minute he was lying in the fender amongst the fireirons -- alone ! How it was done he was too stunned to remember ; but the goddess was gone . If she did not return by midnight , what would become of him ? If he had only been civil to her , she might have stayed ; but now she had abandoned him to certain destruction ! A kind of fatalistic stupor seized him . He would not run away -- he would have to come home some time -- nor would he call in the police , for he had a very vivid recollection of Mr. Braddle 's threat in such a contingency .