nearly midnight
He told the same boy who had told him what Maria had said , that he thought Amy Long was the prettiest girl in school , and Maria was homely enough to crack a looking-glass , and that came back to Maria . Everything said in the school always came back , by some mysterious law of gravitation . There was one quite serious difficulty involved in Aunt Maria 's deserting her post , and that was , Maria was too young to be left alone in the house every night while her father was visiting his fiancee . She could not stay at Mrs. White 's , because it was obviously unfair to ask them to remain up until nearly midnight to act as her guardian every , or nearly every , night in the week . However , Harry submitted the problem to Miss Slome , who solved it at once . She had , in some respects , a masterly brain , and her executive abilities were somewhat thrown away in her comparatively humble sphere . `` You must have the house cleaned , '' said she .