midnight
The upright judge had made her the executioner . What a long tragedy that would be ! He thought of it as he wandered about the lovely rooms of his old home ; what long days of doubt before certainty would come ; what horror when bit by bit the scheme of his vengeance unfolded : what vain , bitter , furious struggling to find and devour him ; and then the miserable ending when time had proved his disappearance absolute and perfect ! At midnight , after a pilgrimage to every loved spot in the household shrine , he slipped away unseen and struck out on foot over the fields for a distant railway station . For two months he lived here and there in California , while his beard grew and his thoughts devoured him . Then one evening he stepped somewhat feebly from the train in New York , crawled into a cab , and drove to No. 127 Mulberry Street . The cabman helped him up the steps and handed him in the door to a brisk old woman , who must have been an actress in her day ; for she gave a screech at the sight of him , and threw her arms about him crying out , so that the cabman heard , `` Artie , alanna , back from the dead , back from the dead , acushla machree . ''