midnight
`` My dear children , '' she said , `` I should ill play my part of chaperon if I did not remind you of the hour . We have been celebrating my birthday , but my birthday is past and gone -- it is after midnight . '' Lord Arleigh looked up in wonder . `` After midnight ? Impossible ! Yet I declare my watch proves that it is . It is all the fault of the starlight , Lady Peters ; you must blame that . ''