seven o'clock
`` Good-night , then , Miriam ; may the Lord have thee in his care this night '' -- and she withdrew , followed by Jenny , eager , no doubt , to commence the recital of my adventure , or to hear what more Captain Wentworth and Dr. Pemberton had to say on the subject . It was nearly daylight when they parted , one to snatch a few hours of needful slumber before setting out on his professional tour , the other to go at once to the officers of justice , and , at the very earliest hour possible , obtain the authority to arrest the brace of arch-conspirators , still protected by the shadows of the dawn . For Justice has its time of sleeping and waking in large cities , and will not be denied its meals , its hours of rest , and even recreation . So it was seven o'clock in the cold November morning before the proper ceremonials could be accomplished which placed it in the power of Wentworth to arraign Basil Bainrothe and Luke Gregory . He occupied one seat in the hackney-coach , which was otherwise filled by the officers of the law ; but , when he rang a sonorous peal on the portal bell of Bainrothe 's residence , it was unanswered , and , though the house had been watched since daylight by an armed police force , who had no connection with McDermot , it was found , when an entrance had been effected , that the only inhabitants of the mansion were a sick woman , an old negress , and a child , apparently , from its puny size , about a twelvemonth old . The woman could not be aroused from the coma in which she seemed to have fallen , either as a crisis of her disease or a precursor of death -LRB- medical opinion was divided -RRB- , until suddenly , about noon , she waked , perfectly clear in mind and comfortable in body , and called loudly for nourishment ! I had slept profoundly until that hour , and my first thought in waking was of Mrs. Clayton and her probable condition ; then came the concentrated effort necessary for her release ; and she , too , awoke , as I have shown , to consciousness and physical ease .