midnight
He lunched at Brookfield every day . At half-past one his carriage was at the door . In the afternoons he went out to drive with Mrs. Barton or sat in the drawing-room with her . Four times in the week he remained to dinner , and did not return home until close on midnight . Whether he ever made any return to Mrs. Barton for her hospitalities , and , if so , in what form he repaid his obligations to her , was , when friends drew together , a favourite topic of conversation in the county of Galway . It had been remarked that the Bartons never dined at Dungory Castle except on state occasions ; and it was well-known that the Ladies Cullen hated Mrs. Barton with a hatred as venomous as the poison hid in the fangs of adders . But Lord Dungory knew how to charm his tame snakes .