midnight
Anyway it had seemed a jolly lark at the time -- a test of the mettle and mother wit of both of them to `` get away with it . '' And she had looked good to him last night when he met her at the appointed trysting place after `` As You Like It . '' She had come out of the shadows of the trees behind which she had been lurking , wearing a scarlet tam-o ' - shanter and a long dark cloak , her eyes shining like January stars . He had liked her nerve in coming out like that to meet him alone at midnight . He had liked the way she `` sassed '' him back and put him in his place , when he had tried impudently enough to kiss her . He had liked the way she laughed when he asked her if she was afraid to speed , on the home stretch . It was her laugh that had spurred him on , intoxicated him , made him send the car leaping faster and still faster , obeying his reckless will .