midnight
I desired to save her from such savage disappointment as had blighted my life , not that she would ever have the capacity to feel my frenzy of griefs , but remembering my own experience , I was ever anxious to save other youngsters from the possibilities of a similar fate . The best disposal to be made of Dawn was to settle her in marriage with some decent and well-to-do man on the sunny side of thirty ; but where was such an one ? Thus I lay awake , and heard the hours chime and the trains go roaring by , till all the household but Miss Flipp had returned . She entered from the outside , did not come in till after midnight , and was not alone . Her uncle accompanied her . My room had French lights opening into the garden in the same way as Miss Flipp 's , and as my ailment was a heart affection it was sometimes necessary for me to go outside to get sufficient air , and in this instance I had the door-windows wide open and the bed pulled almost to the opening . Miss Flipp apparently had her window open too , for despite the conversation in her room being in subdued tones , I heard it where I lay .