midnight
`` Meet him the day after to-morrow : God help me ! Perhaps I shall be in my grave before then . '' A manor-house clock from the far depths of shadow struck the hour , one , in a small , attenuated tone . After midnight the voice of a clock seems to lose in breadth as much as in length , and to diminish its sonorousness to a thin falsetto . Afterwards a light -- two lights -- arose from the remote shade , and grew larger . A carriage rolled along the road , and passed the gate . It probably contained some late diners-out .