midnight
Beatrice said but little . Mrs. Compton talked drearily about the few topics on which she generally spoke . She never dared talk about the affairs of the house . Beatrice was not impatient , for she had no idea of trying to escape before midnight . She sat silently while Mrs. Compton talked or prosed , absorbed in her own thoughts and plans . The hours seemed to her interminable . Slowly and heavily they dragged on .