midnight
How he longed to be away from this merry-making crowd , where he could lay his wearied head to rest , and where the mockery of life might cease to taunt him for a little while . Only one thought saved him and encouraged him through all -- the thought that _ she _ had not forgotten him , in spite of the base treachery practised by the man he had trusted . Through all his painful realizations , this angelic face of his beloved , soothed and comforted and cheered him until he felt a new strength in his arm and a new fire in his heart , urging him on to retributive action . Out of all that crowd of merry-makers that landed back on the Queen 's Wharf , close on to midnight of that night , not one had noticed the solitary figure under the broad felt hat , though his very friends jostled and elbowed past him in the throng . Stepping ashore , he hired a carriage and drove rapidly away . He had spent an evening with all the old faces after an absence of years , and not one of his many friends and acquaintances suspected Guy Elersley any nearer than the possible distance of the unknown . `` Was I deceived or did a sable cloud Turn forth her silver lining on the night ? ''