midnight before
The good people forgot what they had expected to think about her , and only remembered what they had always thought of her . No matter what had happened , she was the same . But what had happened , and how it had happened , and all about it , up and down , to the right and the left , above and below , everybody wanted to know , and Mrs. Cliff , with sparkling eyes , was only too glad to tell them . She had been obliged to be so reserved when she had come home before , that she was all the more eager to be communicative now ; and it was past midnight before the first of that eager and delighted company thought of going home . There was one question , however , which Mrs. Cliff successfully evaded , and that was -- the amount of her wealth . She would not give even an approximate idea of the value of her share of the golden treasure . It was very soon plain to everybody that Mrs. Cliff was the same woman she used to be in regard to keeping to herself that which she did not wish to tell to others , and so everybody went away with imagination absolutely unfettered .