midnight
The flames were being kindled that were to scorch that poor heart of hers . It was about ten o'clock the next night when she finished her novel . Somehow it gave her a grave feeling . Aunt Prudence was in bed , and Dr. Woodburn had gone out into the country to a patient , and would not return till midnight . The house was so still , and the sky and the stars so beautiful ; the curtains of her open window just moved in the night air ! It was all ended now -- that dreamland which she had lived and loved and gave expression to on those sheets of paper . Ended !