midnight
Therefore upon leaving the dining-room I at once retired to my cabin , turned in , and slept soundly until I was called at eight o'clock on the following morning , when I arose , thoroughly recuperated , and feeling as well as ever . The first thing I noticed , while dressing , was that it was a brilliantly fine morning , for the sunshine was streaming powerfully in through my port , flooding the cabin with its radiance ; and the next thing was that the ship 's motion was easy and buoyant , from which I inferred that the gale was over and that we had passed beyond the area over which it had swept . But in this last supposition I was mistaken , as was to appear later . Still , when I went on deck everything went to justify the belief , for the sky was cloudless , the wind had sunk to a royal breeze from the eastward , the sea had gone down , leaving nothing but a long low northerly swell , and we were reeling off our twelve knots easily and comfortably , as I learned had been the case ever since midnight . When I climbed to the poop , Mrs Vansittart was already there , attired in a fine-weather rig of white , with a white cover on her yachting cap . She immediately came up to me and , shaking hands , expressed the hope that I had entirely recovered from the effects of yesterday 's ducking and exertions . Then , as I replied in the affirmative and in return enquired how her son was progressing , she deftly drew me aft to the taffrail , out of earshot of Briscoe , the second mate , who was sourly regarding us both , and said : `` Now , Walter , there is just a word or two that I want to say to you , and this is as good an opportunity as any to say it .