midnight
A golden tube of sunlight shone through some opening in the Venetian blinds , and it shone on the brown hair that lay about her head on the pillow , and she looked steadily into the room at the ` duchesse ' toilet-table , the coloured ware of the washstand , and the two photogravures in oak frames , ` The Meeting ' and ` The Parting , ' that hung upon the wall . She was half dreaming as she listened for the servant 's footsteps , and the faint shadow of a shade of a thought came over her , and she imagined dimly , for the quick moment of a dream , another world where rapture was wine , where one wandered in a deep and happy valley , and the moon was always rising red above the trees . She was thinking of Hampstead , which represented to her the vision of the world beyond the walls , and the thought of the heath led her away to Bank Holidays , and then to Alice . There was not a sound in the house ; it might have been midnight for the stillness if the drawling cry of the Sunday paper had not suddenly echoed round the corner of Edna Road , and with it came the warning clank and shriek of the milkman with his pails . Mrs. Darnell sat up , and wide awake , listened more intently . The girl was evidently fast asleep , and must be roused , or all the work of the day would be out of joint , and she remembered how Edward hated any fuss or discussion about household matters , more especially on a Sunday , after his long week 's work in the City . She gave her husband an affectionate glance as he slept on , for she was very fond of him , and so she gently rose from the bed and went in her nightgown to call the maid .