midnight
`` In our infirmities and in all our dangers and necessities , '' added Jeff Hyde . `` The luck of the world was in that book ! '' In another half-hour the White Guard was at ease , and four of them were gathered about the great stove in the store , Cloud-in-the-Sky smoking placidly , and full of guttural emphasis ; Late Carscallen moving his animal-like jaws with a sense of satisfaction ; Gaspe Toujours talking in Chinook to the Indians , in patois to the French clerk , and in broken English to them all ; and Jeff Hyde exclaiming on the wonders of the march , the finding of Lepage at Manitou Mountain , and of himself and Gaspe Toujours buried in the snow . In Hume 's house at midnight Lepage lay asleep with his wife 's letters -- received through the factor -- in his hand . The firelight played upon a dark , disappointed face -- a doomed , prematurely old face , as it seemed to the factor . `` You knew him , then , '' the factor said , after a long silence , with a gesture towards the bed . `` Yes , well , years ago , '' replied Hume .