midnight
These people all feel better -- and what did it cost me ? -- just a little decent consideration ; just the knowledge of what the unavoidable associations of ideas in their own minds would do for them ! '' What had seemed the corpse of credit breathed again , and the judge and Mahaffy immediately embarked upon a characteristic celebration . Early candlelight found them making a beginning ; midnight came -- the gray and purple of dawn -- and they were still at it , back of closed doors and shuttered windows . Hannibal had devoted himself loyally to the judge 's glorification , and Betty heard all about the letter , the snuffing of the candles and the reward of five thousand dollars . It vastly increased the child 's sense of importance and satisfaction when he discovered she had known nothing of these matters until he told her of them . `` Why , where would Judge Price get so much money , Hannibal ? ''