midnight
`` I used to be fond of that one when I was a youngster , '' he explained apologetically to her as they went out , and little Sid had settled himself obediently on the pillow once more . `` It was when I dreamed , '' he added , `` of less prosaic occupations than the stock market . '' Sidney Dallam had dreamed ! Although Lily Dallam had declared that to leave her house before midnight was to insult her , it was half-past eleven when Honora and her husband reached home . He halted smilingly in her doorway as she took off her wrap and laid it over a chair . `` Well , Honora , '' he asked , `` how do you like -- the whirl of fashion ? '' She turned to him with one of those rapid and bewildering movements that sometimes characterized her , and put her arms on his shoulders .