midnight
It was a clear autumn night : the air was mild , and stars were burning overhead almost as brightly as the lamps in Shaftesbury Avenue . What a chase of lamps , high and low , like fireflies in a wood : green as grass , red as blood , or yellow as a naked flame ! What a sombre city , and what a fleeting crowd ! Isabel had never seen midnight London before . Coming out into the hurrying street roofed with stars , she was seized by an impression of a solitude lonelier than any desert , and dark , like the terror of an eerie sunset or a dry storm on the moor . `` These taxis are waiting for us , '' Lawrence had come up behind her and his hand was on her arm . `` Will you bring your sister , Selincourt ?