midnight
That evening Prothero was so much better that he declared himself well . The wind had changed to the south . She had prayed for a warm wind ; and , as it swept through the great room , she flung off her fur-lined coat and tried to persuade herself that the weather was in Owen 's favour . At midnight the warm wind swelled to a gale . Down at the end of the garden the iron gate cried under the menace and torture of its grip . The sound and the rush of it filled Prothero with exultation . Neither he nor Laura slept .