midnight
It was better so , of course . It was the worst of injustice to feel hurt with her for doing what of all things he would have had her do . But one does n't reason about these things , one feels . Sometimes he wondered if that midnight interview with her at the gate had ever really taken place -- or had it been midsummer madness , too sweet to exist even in memory ? Certainly , in the Esther he saw now there was nothing of the Esther of the stars . She wore her mask well . School had closed for the holidays and the summer gaieties of Coombe were in full swing .