midnight
But there was room to fear that this poor miser father would make it all a thing of property and so provoke her to resistance . And , notwithstanding what he said -- that she would do as she was bid -- I thought I knew her temper well enough to prophesy a hitch . For I made sure of one thing , that if she put her will against the world , the world would never move her . 'T was past midnight , with Tybee dozing in his chair , when next I heard some stirrings in the corridor . As before , it was the lifting of the wooden bar that roused my friendly guard , and when he went to parley at the door I stood apart and turned my back . When I looked again my company was come . At the table , busied with a parchment that might have been a ducal title deed for size , stood Gilbert Stair and the factor-lawyer , Owen Pengarvin .