midnight
`` Here I am presuming to analyze the moods and motives of a young woman of whose life and character I know nothing whatever , and with whom I have exchanged not more than a dozen or twenty sentences in all my life . You need a drenching in the storm , Guilford Duncan , and you shall have it , in the interest of your sanity . '' Donning his boots and overcoat , and pulling his slouch hat well down over his eyes and ears , the young man strode out into the storm . When he came back at midnight , drenched and chilled , his fire had burned itself out . After he had rubbed his damp skin into a healthful glow , he extinguished the lamp and crawled into bed . In spite of all , however , Guilford Duncan was still thinking of Barbara Verne , when , at last , he sank to sleep . His final thought of her took the form of a resolution : `` I will call upon her , and become really acquainted with her .