In ordinary circumstances, as you say, I could not have got past yonder door.

Yet here I am.

What does it augur, Madam ?" "But it is night!" "Precisely.

Could you go to the office of a United States senator and possible cabinet minister in broad daylight and that fact not be known?
Could he come to your apartments in broad daylight and that fact not be known?
What would 'that man Pakenham' suspect in either case?
Believe me, my master is wise.

I do not know his reason, but he knows it, and he has planned best to gain his purpose, whatever it may be.