midnight before
Though they differed from those in England , they were beautiful , with their vistas of snow-capped mountains and the sea . `` But you are not a farmer , '' she objected . `` No ; mining 's my vocation and it keeps me busy . In the city , I 'm at work long before they think of opening their London offices , and it 's generally midnight before I 've finished worrying engineers and contractors at their homes or hotels . In the wilds , we 're more or less continuously grappling with rock or treacherous gravel , or out on the prospecting trail , while the northern summer lasts ; it 's then light most of the night . In the winter , we sometimes sleep in the snow , with the thermometer near the bottom of its register . '' Millicent shivered a little , wondering uneasily why he had taken the trouble to impress this upon her .