midnight
But the train was already pulling out ; with a shake of his stubborn head the uniformed official moved on ; and ruminating on a power of pent profanity , Blue Serge turned and strode back into the waiting-room , passing so near to Sally that their elbows almost touched without his rousing to the least recognition of her existence . But that in itself was nothing to dismay or check the girl in her purpose , and when Blue Serge a minute later addressed himself to the Pullman bureau she was still his shadow -- an all but open eavesdropper upon his communications with the authority of the brass-barred wicket . `` I 've just missed the eleven ten for Boston , '' she heard him explain as he displayed tickets on the marble ledge , `` and , of course , I 'm out my berth reservation . Can you give me a lower on the midnight express ? '' `` No , '' Authority averred with becoming sententiousness . `` An upper , then ? '' `` Nothing left an the midnight . ''