midnight
Everything in the back room and the shop , on the second day after Evelina 's going , seemed to have grown coldly unfamiliar . The whole aspect of the place had changed with the changed conditions of Ann Eliza 's life . The first customer who opened the shop-door startled her like a ghost ; and all night she lay tossing on her side of the bed , sinking now and then into an uncertain doze from which she would suddenly wake to reach out her hand for Evelina . In the new silence surrounding her the walls and furniture found voice , frightening her at dusk and midnight with strange sighs and stealthy whispers . Ghostly hands shook the window shutters or rattled at the outer latch , and once she grew cold at the sound of a step like Evelina 's stealing through the dark shop to die out on the threshold . In time , of course , she found an explanation for these noises , telling herself that the bedstead was warping , that Miss Mellins trod heavily overhead , or that the thunder of passing beer-waggons shook the door-latch ; but the hours leading up to these conclusions were full of the floating terrors that harden into fixed foreboding . Worst of all were the solitary meals , when she absently continued to set aside the largest slice of pie for Evelina , and to let the tea grow cold while she waited for her sister to help herself to the first cup .