midnight
Cally herself would drown trouble to-night with intoxicating draughts of human society . But there came a time when this resource was denied her ; when the human bars closed , as it were ; in short , when all the society in reach must sorrowfully put on his tall hat and go . And then there came the nocturnal stillness of the house , and then the solitariness of the bedchamber , and after that the dark . Now the question that had rumbled all evening cloud-like in the background of her consciousness , swam and took shape in the midnight shadows , dangling before the eye of her mind in gigantic and minatory capitals : WOULD HE TELL ? To this stark inquiry all the girl 's problem came down . Gone like a fever-mist was the emotional flare-up -LRB- as mamma would have said -RRB- which had tricked her into blurting out a secret scarcely even formulated before in her own inmost soul . That mysterious moment remained merely as an astonishment .