midnight
`` Say not US , madam , '' replied the Earl . `` We say that meaner women , like the lesser lights of heaven , have revolutions and phases ; but who shall impute mutability to the sun , or to Elizabeth ? '' The discourse presently afterwards assumed a less perilous tendency , and Leicester continued to support his part in it with spirit , at whatever expense of mental agony . So pleasing did it seem to Elizabeth , that the Castle bell had sounded midnight ere she retired from the company , a circumstance unusual in her quiet and regular habits of disposing of time . Her departure was , of course , the signal for breaking up the company , who dispersed to their several places of repose , to dream over the pastimes of the day , or to anticipate those of the morrow . The unfortunate Lord of the Castle , and founder of the proud festival , retired to far different thoughts . His direction to the valet who attended him was to send Varney instantly to his apartment .