midnight
Come along ; they are waiting on us . '' They passed up the steps together ; and into the pleasant breakfast room , where the remainder of the company were already gathered . Coolidge was again perfectly at his ease , genially greeting the guests , and had apparently already dismissed the incident from his mind . Evidently even West did not consider it of any serious importance ; he had clearly enough not recognized the intruder , and either decided the whole affair a freak of imagination , or else , at the worst , some midnight escapade of a servant . But West 's mind had in reality settled on a point which Coolidge overlooked . He had gained the very information desired . He had carefully refrained from even suggesting the sex of his mysterious visitor .