midnight
Tremayne 's first thought was to try and persuade her to go back and leave Arnold to himself , but a look at Natasha 's white set face and burning eyes warned him that she was not in a mood to take advice , and so he told her , and without another word she went on swiftly down the path that led to the lake . The brief twilight of the tropics had passed before he reached a grove of palms on the western shore of the lake , towards which he had bent his steps when he left Tremayne . He walked with loose , aimless strides , now quickly and now slowly , and now stopping to watch the brightening moon shining upon the water . He caught himself thinking what a lovely night it would be to take Natasha for a row , and then his mind sprang back with a jerk to the remembrance of the horrible journey that he was to begin at midnight -- to take Natasha to another man , and leave her with him as his wife . No , it could not be true . It was impossible that he should have fought and triumphed as he had done , and all for this . To give up the one woman he had ever loved in all his life , the woman he had snatched from slavery and degradation when not another man on earth could have done it .