nearly midnight
What did I know of this world only yesterday ? Then every way seemed clear and open for me , my friends abundant , and love profuse ; to-day I am in awful doubts , and yet I must not lose my will and drift with every passing fear and confusion into the fickleness which makes woman contemptible after she has given her hand . I will never give up two persons -- my father , and my husband ! '' As she turned down the lamp , it being nearly midnight , a short , fierce cry , quickly stifled , as if some wild animal had howled once in nightmare and fallen asleep in his kennel again , seized on her ears and chilled her blood . Vesta started up in bed and listened . It seemed to her that there were footsteps , but they passed away , and she listened in vain for any other sounds , till sleep fell deep and dreamless upon her , like black Lethe winding through a desert wedding-day . Vesta was awakened by Roxy , Virgie , and her mother all standing around her bed at once , exclaiming something unintelligible together .