midnight
` Well , you must see what influence you can exercise over him for his own good . I will call every other day , and hear how you are getting on with him ; and if you fail , we must summon Dr. Mallison . ' Ida spoke to the butler . It was a hard thing to do , and it seemed to her a kind of treachery against her husband -- as if she were inflicting everlasting disgrace upon him in secret , like a midnight assassin , who stabs his victim in the back . Her voice trembled , and her face was deadly pale as she spoke to the butler , an old servant who had been in the household from his boyhood . ` Rogers , I want you to be a little more careful in your arrangements about wine and spirits , ' she began , falteringly . ` Mr. Wendover is in a low state of health -- suffering from a nervous complaint , in fact ; and we fear that he is taking too much brandy .