midnight
Only one person in the world possessed a similar mental vision , only one seemed to understand what he said and what he left unsaid . Reginald Clarke , being a man and poet , read in his soul as in an open book . Ethel might have understood , had not love , like a cloud , laid itself between her eyes and the page . It was with exultation that Ernest heard near midnight the click of Reginald 's key in the door . He found him unchanged , completely , radiantly himself . Reginald possessed the psychic power of undressing the soul , of seeing it before him in primal nakedness . Although no word was said of Ethel Brandenbourg except the mere mention of her presence in Atlantic City , Ernest intuitively knew that Reginald was aware of the transformation that absence had wrought in him .