midnight
If only those indefatigable children would say good-night and take themselves off ! But the echo of the piano still sounded from the room , and seemed to go on and on , in endless repetition . Everything comes to those who wait , however -- even the conclusion of a ball to the weary chaperon . At long past midnight the strains died away , and in the hope of an early release the ladies roused themselves to fresh conversational effort . What they said was unimportant , and could never be remembered ; but at one moment , as it seemed , they were smiling and exchanging their little commonplace amenities , two languid , fine ladies whose aim in life might have been to disguise their own feelings and hide the hearts that God had given them ; the next the artificial smiles were wiped away , and they were clinging together , two terrified , cowering women , with a mother 's soul in their faces -- a mother 's love and fear and dread ! A piercing cry had sounded through the stillness , and another , and another , and , while they sat paralysed with fear , footsteps came tearing along the passage , the door was burst open , and a wild , dishevelled-looking figure rushed into the room . A curtain was wound round face and figure , but beneath its folds a long white arm gripped convulsively at the air , and two little feet staggered about in pink silk slippers .