midnight
Joe had occupied some mysterious office which permitted and , indeed , enjoined upon him the wearing of the insignia of captain , but had forbidden him to leave his native land . The other had earned a little decoration with a very big title as a buyer of boots for Allied nations . Both had subscribed largely to War Stock , and a reminder of their devotion to the cause of liberty was placed to their credit every half-year . But for these , war , with its horrific incidents , its late hours , its midnight railway journeys by trains on which sleeping berths could not be had for love or money , its food cards and statements of excess profits , was past . The present held its tragedy so poignant as to overshadow that breathless terrifying moment when peace had come and found the firm with the sale of the Fairy Line of cargo steamers uncompleted , contracts unsigned , and shipping stock which had lived light-headedly in the airy spaces , falling deflated on the floor of the house . The Fairy Line was not a large line . It was , in truth , a small line .