midnight
Then he set his teeth , and placing his arms about her , lifted her as though she were a babe . Beatrice was no slip of a girl , but a well-grown woman of full size . He never felt her weight ; it seemed nothing to him . Stealthily as one bent on midnight murder , he stepped with her to the door and through it into the passage . Then supporting her with one arm , he closed the door with his left hand . Stealthily in the gloom he passed along the corridor , his bare feet making no noise upon the boarded floor , till he reached the bisecting passage leading from the sitting-rooms . He glanced up it apprehensively , and what he saw froze the blood in his veins , for there coming down it , not eight paces from him , was Mr. Granger , holding a candle in his hand .