midnight
Life is a careless maker of plots . The villain did not appear to shadow them to the obscure old church , to lurk in the darkening pews and see them married , to watch their exit in the twilight as man and wife , to observe from a safe distance their long talk on the corner of the street , and , most inexplicable of all , to see her call a passing cab and drive away in evident haste , perhaps in sudden alarm . Emmet would never have brooked such desertion from a woman of his own class , but the ascendancy which she had established over him from the first was not materially shaken by the fact that she was now his wife . He did not even know where she passed the night , while he walked the streets , a deceived and baffled bridegroom , until in desperation he took the midnight train and arrived home at dawn , too weary to care for aught but sleep . When they met again in Warwick , she resumed her mysterious power of direction as before , and his status as her husband gave him no advantage that he dared to press . He accepted the secret interviews she granted , and learned at last the part he had to play . On that promissory note which she had given him at the altar she paid the instalment of a few elusive kisses , and he discovered to his dismay that he must do some great thing to make himself worthy of her , before the note should be paid in full .