an hour after midnight
Her arms were full of flowers . `` The child from the hospital . Please to make haste . '' Jimmy died an hour after midnight , quite peacefully , died with one hand in Harmony 's and one between Peter 's two big ones . Toward the last he called Peter `` Daddy '' and asked for a drink . His eyes , moving slowly round the room , passed without notice the grayfaced woman in a gold dress who stood staring down at him , rested a moment on the cage of mice , came to a stop in the doorway , where stood the sentry , white and weary , but refusing rest . It was Harmony who divined the child 's unspoken wish .