midnight
-- what a Christmas ! Well , there was no use waiting ; he had come into that house , he scarce knew how ; if they were to thrust him forth again , it had best be done at once ; and he moved to the door of the back room and entered . Oh , well , then he was insane , as he had long believed . There , in his father 's room , at midnight , the fire was roaring and the gas blazing ; the papers , the sacred papers -- to lay a hand on which was criminal -- had all been taken off and piled along the floor ; a cloth was spread , and a supper laid , upon the business table ; and in his father 's chair a woman , habited like a nun , sat eating . As he appeared in the doorway , the nun rose , gave a low cry , and stood staring . She was a large woman , strong , calm , a little masculine , her features marked with courage and good sense ; and as John blinked back at her , a faint resemblance dodged about his memory , as when a tune haunts us , and yet will not be recalled . ` Why , it 's John ! '