midnight before
He rose and came up to my chair then so beautifully , and moved it to a shadier place , as Peggy , catching sight of him from the garden , ran up with a cry of surprise to meet him , to talk about it all . I scarcely know whether her father 's consciousness of the coming separation for me , or my consciousness of the coming separation for him , made things harder or easier for both of us . Cyrus was obliged to make a business trip to Washington on the next day , and it was decided that as Peggy especially wished to be with him now before her long absence , she should accompany him in the morning . On the midnight before we were all startled from sleep by the clang of the door-bell . Good little Billy , always hoping for excitement , and besides extremely sweet in doing errands , answered it . The rest of us absurdly assembled in kimonos and bathrobes at the head of the stairs , dreading we scarcely knew what , for the members of the family not in the house . Within a few minutes Billy dashed up-stairs again , considerately holding high , so that we all could see it , a special-delivery letter , the very same illegible , bleared envelope which had before annoyed us so extremely .