midnight
`` God be merciful to this dishonored house ! '' Mr. Justice Hare turned into the gate between twelve and one -- turned in with a jaunty air ; for the justice was in spirits , he having won nine sixpences , and his friend 's tap of ale having been unusually good . When he reached his bedroom , he told Mrs. Hare of a chaise and four which had gone tearing past at a furious pace as he was closing the gate , coming from the direction of East Lynne . He wondered where it could be going at that midnight hour , and whom it contained . Nearly a year went by . Lady Isabel Carlyle had spent it on the continent -- that refuge for such fugitives -- now moving about from place to place with her companion , now stationary and alone . Quite half the time -- taking one absence with the other -- he had been away from her , chiefly in Paris , pursuing his own course and his own pleasure .