midnight
They went out hand in hand , and when they reached the door , the sun which had been hid burst out as a benediction upon them . Among the guests one man had stepped in unnoticed and unseen . Why he came he could not tell , for never before did he have any desire to go to the little church . It was midnight when the news came to him that Tom Travis had returned as from the dead . It was Jud Carpenter who had awakened him that Saturday night to whisper at the bedside the startling news . But Travis only yawned from his sleep and said : `` I 've been expecting it all the time -- go somewhere and go to bed . '' After Carpenter had gone , he arose , stricken with a feeling he could not describe , but had often seen in race horses running desperately until within fifty yards of the wire , and then suddenly -- quitting .