midnight
Dartrey in the course of the evening , begged to hear the contralto ; and Nataly , refusing , was astounded by the admission in her blank mind of the truth of man 's list of charges against her sex , starting from their capriciousness for she could have sung in a crowded room , and she had now a desire for company , for stolid company or giddy , an ocean of it . This led to her thinking , that the world of serious money-getters , and feasts , and the dance , the luxurious displays , and the reverential Sunday service , will always ultimately prove itself right in opposition to critics and rebels , and to any one vainly trying to stand alone : and the thought annihilated her ; for she was past the age of the beginning again , and no footing was left for an outsider not self-justified in being where she stood . She heard Dartrey 's praise of Nesta 's voice for tearing her mother 's bosom with notes of intolerable sweetness ; and it was haphazard irony , no doubt ; we do not the less bleed for the accident of a shot . At last , after midnight Victor arrived . Nesta most impudently expected to be allowed to remain . ` Pray , go , dear , ' her mother said . Victor kissed his Fredi .