midnight
`` Father ! '' -- and `` Evan , boy ! '' were the simple words of greeting ; but the mighty hand-grip which went with them was for the younger man a confirmation of the filial hope and a heart-warming promise for the future . Following instantly , there came a rush of mingled emotions : of astoundment that he had recognized no familiar landmark in the midnight faring through the hills or on the approach to the home of his childhood ; of something akin to keen regret that the old had given place so thoroughly and completely to the new ; of a feeling bordering on chagrin that he had been surprised into accepting the hospitable advances of a woman whom he had been intending to avoid , and for whom he had hitherto cherished -- and meant to cherish -- a settled aversion . But at the hand-gripping moment there was no time for a nice weighing of emotions . He was in his father 's house ; the home-coming , some phases of which he had vaguely dreaded , was a fact accomplished , and the new life -- the life which must be lived without Patricia -- was fairly begun . Also , there were many arrears to be brought up .