midnight
She switched on the light for a last look about her pretty , pleasant room . There was a snapshot of the Parish House people upon her mantel , and she nodded to it , gravely , before she once more plunged the room into darkness . Noiselessly she slipped downstairs and let herself out . The midnight air was bitingly cold , but she did not feel it . With one handsatchel holding all she thought she could honestly lay claim to , Mary Virginia turned her back upon the home that had sheltered her all her life , but that would n't be able to shelter its own people much longer , because Inglesby was going to take it away from them . It made her wince to think of him as master under that roof . The old house deserved a happier fate .