midnight
`` Come on ! '' she said . `` You and I can not afford to lose our beauty sleep , Cleo . Two hours before midnight , -- you know the time , and it 's now half-past nine . '' Evidently Mrs. Delarayne intended to be rude to Denis . Sir Joseph had told her something across the telephone , and she had expected a result which had not occurred . * * * * * The following morning after breakfast Mrs. Delarayne as usual retired to the bureau in the library where every day she devoted at least thirty minutes to her housekeeping duties .