midnight before
Surely Daisy would not do that to him ! `` I should be like Lear -- without a grievance , '' he said to himself , with a wry smile . `` The very height of tragedy ! '' It was near midnight before he put away his work . Norburn had left him alone two hours before , and he rose now , laid down his pipe , and went to look for his daughter in her little sitting-room . His heart was very heavy ; he must make her understand now why a man who made love to her should be hastily sent away by his friends , what her father had condemned her to , what manner of man he was ; he must seem to destroy or impair the perfect sweetness of memory wherein she held her mother . He opened the door softly .