midnight
I do n't want to take your place . '' Later in the night Sarah wished that she had . She wondered as she shrank to the edge of the bed and tried to make herself as small as possible , if three persons to a bed on the floor , would n't have been preferable to the rail which fell to her lot . It was long past midnight when the last joke was told , the last giggle suppressed . The fun might have gone on indefinitely if , from somewhere in the house , Amanda 's uncle 's boot had n't fallen ominously , and Amanda 's aunt cleared her throat audibly . Morning found them up with the larks . There was a stroll down the shady lane before breakfast , and afterward , when the dishes were cleared away and the bedrooms restored to proper order , Amanda 's uncle insisted upon piling them all in the big farm wagon and taking them to church .