midnight
`` Are you going to plot ? '' `` I 'm going to try . '' `` I 'll pray for your success , '' she whispered . `` Pray for me , '' he answered , and shortly after they had achieved the feat of saying good-night and parting once more , and the result of it all had been that Jack found himself tipping back and forth on the small chair , in the big room , at half-past midnight , puzzled , perturbed , and very much perplexed as to what to do first when the next morning should have become a settled fact . He was not used to conspiring , and being only a man , he had not those curious instinctive gifts of inspiration and luminous conception which fairly radiate around the brain of clever womankind . It was some time -- a very long time indeed -- before any light stole in upon his Stygian darkness , and then , when the light did come , it came in skyrocket guise , and had its share of cons attached to its very evident pros . `` But I do n't care , '' he declared viciously , as he rose and began to undress ; `` something 's got to be done , -- some chances have got to be taken , -- as well that as anything else .