midnight
`` It came near to being it ; but -- it is not , it is not . I wonder , oh , I wonder ! '' Then he laughed the foolish , vacuous laugh of a man whose thoughts are too happy for the banality of words . It was midnight and after . In the close-curtained library of Chepstow House , Cleek , with his little lordship sleeping in his arms , sat in solemn conclave with Lady Chepstow , Captain Hawksley , and Maverick Narkom ; and while they talked , Ailsa , like a restless spirit , wandered to and fro , now lifting the curtains to peep out into the darkness , now listening as if her whole life 's hope lay in the coming of some expected sound . And in her veins there burned a fever of suspense . `` So you failed to get the rascals , did you , Mr. Narkom ? ''