nearly midnight
`` Why , Mabel , what do you mean ? I have not spent an evening away from you for nearly a year before this . My absence this evening has been purely accidental , although I have passed it very agreeably . '' `` And may I ask where you find such delightful entertainment , that kept you away till this late hour , for it is nearly midnight ? '' `` Yes . I have spent the evening with Miss Evans . '' `` That detestable strong-minded - '' `` Mabel !