midnight
Then I dreamed of -- or I saw -- a woman fair as the daughters of God , and she said , _ ` I will go with thee to Glasgow ! ' _ With a strange feeling of being hurried and pressed I awoke -- wide awake , and without any conscious will of my own , I answered , ` I am ready . I am ready now . ' `` As I left the cottage it was striking twelve , and I wondered what means of reaching Glasgow I should find at midnight . But I walked straight to the pier , and there was a small steamer with her steam up . She was blowing her whistle impatiently , and when the skipper saw me coming , he called to me , in a passion , ` Well , then , is it all night I shall wait for thee ? ' `` I soon perceived that there was a mistake , and that it was not John Balmuto he had been instructed to wait for .