quarter
after midnight
`` Niver put off till t ' - morrow what can be done the day . '' `` The laddie 's right , '' said Ross . `` I 'm betting you 'll find him at the yards till after No. 2 comes in -- the Flyer -- that 's due at 12.40 . '' And so it happened that , as the clocks were pointing to the quarter after midnight , Lieutenant Ralph McCrea and the newly appointed subaltern , both in plain travelling dress , once more appeared at the Union Station , and presently learned that Mr. Anthony was about the yard . It was not long thereafter that they found him , busy , as such men must ever be , yet recognizing McCrea at a glance and giving him cordial welcome . But when McCrea presented his friend , `` Lieutenant Graham , whose father you probably knew as post surgeon at Reynolds , '' and then made his request , the official looked grave . `` It 's against orders , '' said he .