midnight
She rose up and finished setting the bread to rise , and then she went to her chamber and packed away the shoes with the other things in the cedar chest . Through the days that came now Madelon toiled as she had never toiled before , although she had always been an industrious girl . She had her own linen-chest , which she would take with her when she married , and now she bestirred herself to replenish the stores of the house she would leave , for the comfort of her father and brothers . Long before dawn the gentle hum of her spinning-wheel began , although the days were lengthening , and many a time she sat plying it on her solitary hearth until after midnight . She spent days at the great loom in the north chamber , marching back and forth before it , a straight , resolute figure of industry filling human needs , although with sweat of the brow and heart 's blood . No happier was she for her hard toil , but it kept at least the spirit of fierce endurance alive within her , for no one succumbs entirely to misery with unfolded hands . Then , too , she was upheld somewhat by her pride in right-doing and providing for the interests of her family .