midnight
` Now go and get ready . ' She left him , but stood for a few moments on the landing before going to the girls ' room . Marian had finished the rough draft of a paper on James Harrington , author of ` Oceana . ' Her father went through it by the midnight lamp , and the next morning made his comments . A black sky and sooty rain strengthened his inclination to sit by the study fire and talk at large in a tone of flattering benignity . ` Those paragraphs on the Rota Club strike me as singularly happy , ' he said , tapping the manuscript with the mouthpiece of his pipe . ` Perhaps you might say a word or two more about Cyriac Skinner ; one must n't be too allusive with general readers , their ignorance is incredible .