midnight
`` Oh , Mrs. Firkin , '' gasped Betty , `` sech a business . Miss Sharp have a gone and run away with the Capting , and they 're off to Gretney Green ! '' We would devote a chapter to describe the emotions of Mrs. Firkin , did not the passions of her mistresses occupy our genteeler muse . When Mrs. Bute Crawley , numbed with midnight travelling , and warming herself at the newly crackling parlour fire , heard from Miss Briggs the intelligence of the clandestine marriage , she declared it was quite providential that she should have arrived at such a time to assist poor dear Miss Crawley in supporting the shock -- that Rebecca was an artful little hussy of whom she had always had her suspicions ; and that as for Rawdon Crawley , she never could account for his aunt 's infatuation regarding him , and had long considered him a profligate , lost , and abandoned being . And this awful conduct , Mrs. Bute said , will have at least this good effect , it will open poor dear Miss Crawley 's eyes to the real character of this wicked man . Then Mrs. Bute had a comfortable hot toast and tea ; and as there was a vacant room in the house now , there was no need for her to remain at the Gloster Coffee House where the Portsmouth mail had set her down , and whence she ordered Mr. Bowls 's aide-de-camp the footman to bring away her trunks . Miss Crawley , be it known , did not leave her room until near noon -- taking chocolate in bed in the morning , while Becky Sharp read the Morning Post to her , or otherwise amusing herself or dawdling .