midnight
`` Then when you lie down in bed , Pauline , you will drop asleep and be all right in the morning . '' Pauline was so utterly weary that she was glad to creep into bed . Her arm was bandaged very unskilfully ; nevertheless it felt slightly more comfortable . Presently she dropped into an uneasy doze ; but from that doze she awoke soon after midnight , to hear Nancy snoring loudly by her side , to hear corresponding snores in a sort of chorus coming from the other end of the long room , and to observe also that there was not a chink of light anywhere ; and , finally , to be all too terribly conscious of a great burning pain in her arm . That pain seemed to awaken poor Pauline 's slumbering conscience . `` Why did I come ? '' she said to herself .