midnight
Youll have Douglas for a brother-in-law before this time next year . '' This seemed to have been in the clergyman 's mind ; for he shook hands with his host more distantly than usual . When they were gone , Conolly went to the laboratory , and rang for his neglected dinner , which he ate with all a traveller 's appetite . From the dinner table he went straight to the organ , and played until a little before midnight , when , after a brief turn in the open air , he retired to bed , and was soon quietly asleep . Miss McQuinch spent Christmas morning in her sitting-room reading ; a letter which had come by the morning post . It was dated the 17th December at New York : and the formal beginning and ending were omitted . This was an old custom between Marian and her cousin .