midnight
`` After all , it was an idle fancy in me that there could be any danger . His Lordship has good English blood in his veins , and it would take oceans and rivers of Italian treachery to wash out the sterling quality of it . And , my good friend , as to these claims of yours , I would not have you trust too much to what is probably a romantic dream ; yet , were the dream to come true , I should think the British peerage honored by such an accession to its ranks . And now to bed ; for we have heard the chimes of midnight , two hours agone . '' They accordingly retired ; and Redclyffe was surprised to find what a distinctness his ideas respecting his claim to the Braithwaite honors had assumed , now that he , after so many years , had imparted them to another . Heretofore , though his imagination had played with them so much , they seemed the veriest dreams ; now , they had suddenly taken form and hardened into substance ; and he became aware , in spite of all the lofty and patriotic sentiments which he had expressed to the Warden , that these prospects had really much importance in his mind . Redclyffe , during the few days that he was to spend at the Hospital , previous to his visit to Braithwaite Hall , was conscious of a restlessness such as we have all felt on the eve of some interesting event .