twelve o'clock
They evidently regarded her as a raw Colonial , endued with no sense of what was fitting , who could not expect to be countenanced by an insolvent land-owning family . This was amusing ; but the suggestion that she recognized the fact , and because of it had endeavored to alienate Clarence Weston from his relatives , who had apparently been very glad to get rid of him , was a very different matter . However , she recovered her composure with an effort , and succeeded in taking a part in the general conversation which broke out when Weston drove away . It was three or four months later when Ida was carried swiftly westward through the London streets toward twelve o'clock one night . The motor purred and clicked smoothly , slinging bright beams of light in front of it as it twisted eel-like through the traffic . The glass that would have sheltered Ida from the cool night breeze was down , but she scarcely noticed the roar of the city or the presence of Arabella and Mrs. Kinnaird . She was thinking of that afternoon at Scarthwaite , and wondering , as she had done somewhat frequently since then , what had impelled her to speak in that impulsive fashion .