about midnight
`` Thank you . Good-night ! '' Medenham did not feel equal to facing the men in the smoking-room again . He went out , walked up Oxford Street and across the park , and reached his room about midnight . Next day he devoted himself to work . In view of the new and strange circumstances that had arisen he believed confidently that Cynthia would reply to his letter by return of post , and there should be no chance of delay , because she meant to stay two days at Windermere , making that town the center of excursions through lakeland . While the son was seeking forgetfulness in classifying a collection of moths and night flies caught during a week at La Turbie , the father found occupation in prosecuting diligent inquiries into the social and financial standing of Peter Vanrenen .