midnight
Moreover , he would do nothing without Clarence 's participation . The title-deeds were not in the house , for my father had had too much of the law to meddle more than he could help with his own affairs , and had left them in the hands of the family solicitor at Bristol , where Clarence was to go and look over them . He rejoiced in the opportunity of being able to see whether anything would throw light on the story of the mullion chamber ; and the certainty that the Wattlesea property had never been part of the old endowment of the Chantry did not seem nearly so interesting as a packet of yellow letters tied with faded red tape . Mr. Ryder made no difficulty in entrusting these to him , and we read them by our midnight lamp . Clarence had seen poor Margaret 's will , bequeathing her entire property to her husband 's son , Philip Winslow , and had noted the date , 1705 ; also the copy of the decision in the Court of Probate that there was no sufficient evidence of entail on the Fordyce family to bar her power of disposing of it . We eagerly opened the letters , but found them disappointing , as they were mostly offerings of ` Felicitations ' to Philip Winslow on having established his ` Just Claim , ' and ` refuted the malicious Accusations of Calumny . ' They only served to prove the fact that he had been accused of something , and likewise that he had powerful friends , and was thought worth being treated with adulation , according to the fashion of his day .