midnight
`` It is a horror , '' he remarked , `` that we generally find in the very old , and seldom in the young . '' They both expressed their interest in what he told them ; it seemed to them very strange . Another strange thing about the day was that the luncheon was forgotten by all of them until it was late in the afternoon , and then Mrs. Chailey waited on them , and looked strange too , because she wore a stiff print dress , and her sleeves were rolled up above her elbows . She seemed as oblivious of her appearance , however , as if she had been called out of her bed by a midnight alarm of fire , and she had forgotten , too , her reserve and her composure ; she talked to them quite familiarly as if she had nursed them and held them naked on her knee . She assured them over and over again that it was their duty to eat . The afternoon , being thus shortened , passed more quickly than they expected . Once Mrs. Flushing opened the door , but on seeing them shut it again quickly ; once Helen came down to fetch something , but she stopped as she left the room to look at a letter addressed to her .