midnight
She travelled homewards upon the Tube . Before she slept , however , Julia had a letter to write , to Desmond Rokeby ; she addressed it to his business address , which she happened to know , and marked it _ Very urgent _ . The contents were as urgent as the instruction upon the envelope , and once again that night she left the Ladies ' Club to post the letter at the pillar-box at the corner . It would be cleared at midnight , and Rokeby should get his news by the first post in the morning . Then Julia Winter slept ; but although her head was full of two babies , a grown-girl one and a tiny weakling one , together in a soiled pink room , it was not of them that she dreamed . She was sitting once more at a balcony table in the quiet red restaurant with the big mirrors , facing an unusual kind of man who cared as little what she thought of him as she cared what he thought of her ; the restaurant was warm and rosy , and they drifted upon the flying hours , like two voyagers upon a happy river . Marie heard Osborn come in and go to the dining-room and hit an unresponsive mass of coal vigorously , but she gave no sign .