midnight
`` Give me a horse , for God 's sake ! '' he gasped . `` I 've just killed mine . I -- I must get to Metz by midnight -- '' Lorraine and Jack sprang to the road from opposite sides of the vehicle ; Georges ' drawn face was stretched into an attempt at a smile which was ghastly , for the stiff , black blood that had caked in a dripping ridge from his forehead to his chin cracked and grew moist and scarlet , and his hollow cheeks whitened under the coat of dust . But he drew himself up by an effort and saluted Lorraine with a punctilious deference that still had a touch of jauntiness to it -- the jauntiness of a youthful cavalry officer in the presence of a pretty woman . Old Pierre , who had witnessed the episode from the butler 's window , came limping down the path , holding a glass and a carafe of brandy .