midnight
She invariably wore it tightly drawn back -- so tightly , in fact , that Dan had more than once complained that it pulled her eyebrows out of place . On this occasion , however , she crimped it , she curled it , she brought it forward about her face in soft riotous puffs and strands , patting it into becoming shape with dexterous fingers until it formed a golden frame for her piquant features . Now this was no unusual performance for her . In the midnight solitude of her chamber she regularly gave rein to the feminine side of her nature . By day she was the severe , matter-of-fact , businesslike Eliza Appleton , deaf to romance , lost to illusion , and unresponsive to masculine attention ; but deep in her heart were all the instincts and longings of femininity , and at such times as this they came uppermost . Her bedroom had none of the Puritanical primness which marked her habit of dress ; it was in no way suggestive of the masculine character which she so proudly paraded upon the street . On the contrary , it was a bower of daintiness , and was crowded with all the senseless fripperies of a school-girl .