midnight
There was none of the dignity of danger , for the depths were shallows and the water only rose to his waist ; but the mud was above his ankles , and he had floundered out with some difficulty . He wanted to walk back with no more ceremony than a water-dog ; but the Underwoods had made common cause against him , and had dragged him to a cottage , where he had the pleasing alternative of an old woman 's blankets and petticoats while his garments were drying . He was as nearly angry as a Harewood could be , Lance observed , declaring that they should never have got him into the cottage without fighting him , if Tina had not been so tall , and if Robin had not nearly cried ; while he , throwing off all responsibility , ascribed all his lateness to his friend 's ` maggots . ' No more trains stopped at Bexley till after midnight ; but as to his absence causing any uneasiness at home , he laughed at the notion , and was corroborated by Lance in averring that they had too much sense ; listening with undisguised amazement to the elaborate explanations and apologies about Robina , which Clement was scrupulously pouring forth to his brother and sister , saying that he would have brought her home at once , but that he really did not like to trust those boys alone . Whereat Lance held up his hands with a dumb show of amazement that convulsed Fulbert , Bill Harewood , and Robina herself , with agonies of half-suppressed merriment . The boy had come in , prepared to be grave and quiet , as knowing how lately affliction had come to the family , and having been warned by Lance , that ` as to going on as we do in the precincts , why it would make Cherry jump out of her skin . ' But by some extraordinary influence -- whether it were the oddity of William Harewood 's face , or the novelty of his perfect _ insouciance _ in the household whither care had come only too early -- some infection seized on the young Underwoods , and before the end of the evening meal , if the ` goings on ' were not equal to those in the precincts , they were , at any rate , not far short of it .