Midnight
`` She is , I presume , by now , the Countess Cantemir -- made so by an Abbé at the monastery . '' Pomphrey was a-road ; the clatter of bit and spur brought a smile to Constance ' face , and she cried forth with all the venom in her poor , foul being : `` Two mad fools , -- both gone crazy over a convent wench , who is now my Lady Cantemir -- my cousin , -- the wife of a fortune hunter ! '' She fled within doors like one pursued and stopped not until she reached her own chamber . Midnight approached phantom-like , and as stealthily Lady Constance crept to the postern door . Behind her fell a shadow athwart the floor , a shadow that was not hers but of one that moved as warily . She listened as she held the door ajar , fearing to look back . As she thrust the door wide , a figure from without moved toward her .