midnight
At the bottom he looked back dubiously . Giles would no longer remain when he was so evidently desired to leave , and returned through the boughs to Hintock . He suspected that this man , who seemed so distressed and melancholy , might be that lover and persistent wooer of Mrs. Charmond whom he had heard so frequently spoken of , and whom it was said she had treated cavalierly . But he received no confirmation of his suspicion beyond a report which reached him a few days later that a gentleman had called up the servants who were taking care of Hintock House at an hour past midnight ; and on learning that Mrs. Charmond , though returned from abroad , was as yet in London , he had sworn bitterly , and gone away without leaving a card or any trace of himself . The girls who related the story added that he sighed three times before he swore , but this part of the narrative was not corroborated . Anyhow , such a gentleman had driven away from the hotel at Sherton next day in a carriage hired at that inn . The sunny , leafy week which followed the tender doings of Midsummer Eve brought a visitor to Fitzpiers 's door ; a voice that he knew sounded in the passage .