midnight
Bess was sitting where she commanded a prospect of the street . Who should come swinging up the way but Richard ? It was the habit of that rising journalist to make one or two daily excursions past the Harley house . Richard was none of your moon-mad ones who would strum a midnight lute beneath a fair maid 's window . Still , he liked to walk by the Harley house ; the temporary nearness of Dorothy did his soul good . Besides , he now and then caught a glimpse of her through the window . Richard was on the Marklin side of the street , and as he was for going by -- back to Bess and eyes on the Harley house -- Bess rapped on the pane and beckoned him .