midnight
`` I wish the _ Mayflower _ had been sunk fathoms deep in the ocean before she ever touched Plymouth Rock , '' she said to her husband . `` The spirit of intolerance those Puritans brought over here with them is what is taking our boy from us now . No punishment that I can think of would be too severe for them . '' Rodney lived in hopes that some of the company would ride out to see him during the course of the evening , but midnight came without bringing any of them , and the disappointed Barrington boy , giving his mother the last good-night kiss he imprinted upon her lips for more than fifteen long months , went to bed satisfied that he was to be left to work out his own destiny , with no Mooreville friend to encourage or advise him . He slept but little , but appeared at the breakfast table as fresh as a daisy and -- dressed in citizen 's clothing . `` This is a pill I do n't like to swallow , '' said he , opening his coat and looking down at himself . `` I said I would n't take off my gray uniform until the South had gained her independence ; but I did n't know at the time that I would find it necessary to pass through the enemy 's lines .