midnight
`` When did the _ mem-sahib _ go ? '' he questioned , dully . The _ khitmutgar _ bent his stately person . `` The _ mem-sahib _ went in haste , '' he said , `` an hour before midnight . Your servant followed her to the _ dâk-bungalow _ to protect her from _ budmashes _ , but she dismissed me ere she entered in . _ Sahib _ , I could do no more . '' The man 's eyes appealed for one instant , but fell the next before the dumb despair that looked out of his master 's .