midnight
The colour had risen to her face . `` That 's why I wrote instead of telegraphing ; I have n't a penny to spare myself ! '' Nothing she could have said could have filled her listener with a deeper contrition . He felt the red in his own face as he recalled the motive with which he had credited her in his midnight musings . But that motive , after all , had simply been trumped up to justify his own disloyalty : he had never really believed in it . The reflection deepened his confusion , and he would have liked to take her hand in his and confess the injustice he had done her . She may have interpreted his change of colour as an involuntary protest at being initiated into such shabby details , for she went on with a laugh : `` I suppose you can hardly understand what it means to have to stop and think whether one can afford a telegram ?