midnight
As she pondered the telegram , the tears in her eyes , she heard Mrs. Fotheringham describe the news as `` on the whole very satisfactory . '' The nation required the lesson . Whereupon Diana 's tongue was loosed and would not be quieted . She dwelt hotly on the `` sniping , '' the treacheries , the midnight murders which had preceded the expedition , Mrs. Fotheringham listened to her with flashing looks , and suddenly she broke into a denunciation of war , the military spirit , and the ignorant and unscrupulous persons at home , especially women , who aid and abet politicians in violence and iniquity , the passion of which soon struck Diana dumb . Here was no honorable fight of equal minds . She was being punished for her advocacy of the night before , by an older woman of tyrannical temper , toward whom she stood in the relation of guest to host . It was in vain to look round for defenders .