midnight
Thrust home and make an end ! '' `` Memsahib ! '' said the Risaldar , `` all this is foolishness and waste of time ! The hour is past midnight and I must be going . Leave the room -- leave me and my half-brother with this priest for five short minutes and we will coax from him the secret of some hiding-place where you may lie hid until I come ! '' `` But you 'll hurt him ! '' `` Not if he speaks , and speaks the truth ! ''