midnight
It took courage to go out in that wind , but it took greater courage to stay and meet Vereker Sarle . So she was dressed and hatted , with a small suit-case in her hand , and starting on a journey to the Paarl . She did not know what `` the Paarl '' was , nor where ! Her first introduction to that strange name was at midnight , when she found it on one of the letters addressed to Diana . All the other letters were of no consequence , but the Paarl letter seemed to solve for her the pressing and immediate problem of how to escape from the terror of exposure by Kenna before the loved eyes of Sarle . It was from the parson 's daughter , that eccentric painter who lived somewhere on the veld , and whose home was to have been Diana 's destination . `` Clive Connal '' she signed herself , and said she hoped Diana would take the morning train , as it was the coolest one to travel by , and arrive at the Paarl by 8.30 , where a mule-cart would be waiting to take her to Ho-la-lé-la .