midnight
I had such implicit confidence in her declaration , that I then put it to Mr. Peggotty , whether it would not seem , in the onset , like distrusting her , to follow her any farther . He being of the same mind , and equally reliant on her , we suffered her to take her own road , and took ours , which was towards Highgate . He accompanied me a good part of the way ; and when we parted , with a prayer for the success of this fresh effort , there was a new and thoughtful compassion in him that I was at no loss to interpret . It was midnight when I arrived at home . I had reached my own gate , and was standing listening for the deep bell of St. Paul 's , the sound of which I thought had been borne towards me among the multitude of striking clocks , when I was rather surprised to see that the door of my aunt 's cottage was open , and that a faint light in the entry was shining out across the road . Thinking that my aunt might have relapsed into one of her old alarms , and might be watching the progress of some imaginary conflagration in the distance , I went to speak to her . It was with very great surprise that I saw a man standing in her little garden .