midnight
They swung arms together shyly as they stumbled back over the path . She could n't believe that he really would go off to the West , of which she was so ignorant . But she felt as though she were staggering into a darkness blinder and ever more blind . When she got home she found her mother awake , very angry over Una 's staying out till after midnight , and very wordy about the fact that `` that nice , clean young man , '' Mr. J. J. Todd , of Chatham and of the commercial college , had come to call that evening . Una made little answer to her . Through her still and sacred agony she could scarce hear her mother 's petulant whining . § 5 Next morning at the office , Walter abruptly asked her to come out into the hall , told her that he was leaving without notice that afternoon .