midnight
She had allowed herself to be carried away by her affection for her friend to make accusations against him , in which even she herself would not persist in her quieter moments . He found it quite easy to prove that Phyllis had been in the wrong and that he was in the right ; but this fact did not prevent an intermittent recurrence during the evening of that feeling of uneasiness , as those words of the girl , `` _ If Ella Linton were wicked , you would be held responsible for it in the sight of God _ , '' buzzed in his ears . `` Would she have me become an ordinary clergyman of the Church of England ? '' he cried indignantly , as he switched on the light in his bedroom shortly before midnight -- for the rushlight in the cell of the modern man of God is supplied at a strength of so many volts . `` Would she have me become the model country parson , preaching to the squire and other yokels on Sunday , and chatting about their souls to wheezy Granfer this , and Gammer that ? '' He had read the works of Mr. Thomas Hardy . `` Does she suppose that I was made for such a life as that ?