midnight
It shall be sent to you here on a tray . '' For the rest of the evening Pauline was so pitied and fussed over , and made so thoroughly comfortable , that she began to think the black , black lie she had uttered quite a good thing . `` Here am I half out of my scrape , '' she thought . `` Now , if I can only persuade Nancy not to force us to go to that midnight picnic , and not to tell if we do n't go , and if I can get the thimble back , I shall be once more as happy as the day is long . This wicked black lie shall not frighten me . There is no other way out . I can not possibly tell the truth .