midnight
Hours passed . She did not return . He began to reproach himself for having engaged her in his amatory mission when her life was at stake . At last , towards midnight , he heard the front door latch click . She appeared on the threshold with chattering teeth , blue with cold , the letter still grasped in her cramped fingers . He made her sit down by the stove , and gave her Spanish wine to drink -- and gradually she found her voice . `` I have been lying all this time in the snow under the parsonage hedge , '' she said , `` but there was no possibility of getting at her .