midnight
I can do without him -- easy . '' Stump was angry with Dick , and did not hesitate to show it . A blunt man , of plain speech , he resented anything in the nature of double-dealing . Royson 's remarkable proficiency in most matters bearing on the navigation of a ship had amazed him in the first instance , and this juggling with names led him to suspect some deep-laid villainy with which the midnight attack on von Kerber was not wholly unconnected . But the person most taken aback by Irene 's self-assertion was Mrs. Haxton . A firm attitude on the girl 's part came as an unpleasing novelty . An imperious light leaped to her eyes , but she checked the words which might have changed a trivial incident into a sharp tussle for supremacy .