midnight
And when I became somewhat rational , and could understand what was passing about me , I learned the terrible truth -- the sad , pitiful story : my babe had indeed found a watery grave . They found a little shoe , its cape , and portions of its dress floating on the waves the next morning . But the body was never recovered ; it had drifted out to sea . Now you will not wonder why I wander up and down this lonely path at midnight -- why I listen on my bended knees for hours to the whispering voice of the waves . It seems to me like the voice of my little child ; and some day I shall follow her into the dark , cold waves , and be at rest with my darling whose tiny hands beckon me down to death in the cold , watery depths whose waves are glinted by the golden light of the flickering stars . '' Dorothy scarcely breathed , so intense was her effort to restrain herself until the other had finished . In fewer words than we can explain it she had flung her arms about the stranger 's neck and breathed out to her the startling story of that never-to-be-forgotten night when she had rescued from the waves the child this poor young mother was describing .