midnight
Of something which had never been , but still might be ! Of something which they had just missed , but might find when the sun rose again ! Of a miracle that might occur at any moment and make everything different ! It was after midnight ; and to Corinna it seemed that the darkness had released the collective spirit of the city , which would retreat again into itself with the breaking of dawn . Once a cry sounded far off and was hushed almost immediately ; once a light flashed and went out in the window beneath a roof ; but as the car sped on by rows of darkened tenements , the mysterious penumbra of the night appeared to draw closer and closer , as if that also were a phantom of the encompassing obscurity . `` Is this the aunt you told me of , Patty ? '' asked Corinna abruptly .