nearly midnight
But the singing in her heart when she left the Rectory took away the pain of her loneliness . Frederick Graves had said that she had done right in coming to him and asking prayers for `` Daddy Skinner . '' Her faith in the student carried her above the material things of the earth , more than her absolute faith in God , for like women , Tessibel lived and had faith through the man of her choice . It was nearly midnight when she passed Kennedy 's wheat field in which capered Pete , the brindle bulldog . She called to him softly , pronouncing his name twice in loving resonance , which brought a low , pleased howl from the coarse throat of the dog . But the exhausted squatter-girl did not wait to touch the long , red tongue as Pete thrust his nose through the fence . She passed quickly down the lane to her father 's hut .