midnight
`` Yes , '' smiled Marie , mistily , as she gathered up her work . `` I know what Aunt Hannah 's doing . She 's helping Rosa put the house to rights , and she 's stopping to cry over every slipper and handkerchief of Billy 's she finds . And she 'll do that until that funny clock of hers strikes twelve , then she 'll say ` Oh , my grief and conscience -- midnight ! ' But the next minute she 'll remember that it 's only half-past eleven , after all , and she 'll send Rosa to bed and sit patting Billy 's slipper in her lap till it really is midnight by all the other clocks . '' Cyril laughed appreciatively . `` Well , I know what Will is doing , '' he declared .