midnight
Who can know of the sorrow and remorse that filled his heart , of the wild cry for help and pardon that went up from the river that night ? Meanwhile , the moon shone calmly , steadily , on the boy still fighting for his life , on the mother praying at her chamber window , and on good Father Xavier sleeping the sleep of the exhausted . Somewhat later , but still before the dawn , he was summoned from that sleep to answer a sick call from the hospital just across the river , to which he was chaplain . Three young men coming home from the city shortly after midnight had attempted to cross the frozen river , though warned of the danger of doing so . The ice had broken through , two were drowned , one saved , and the doctors thought he would live though unconscious at present . No , the names of the young men were not known as yet . The sisters at the hospital sent for the priest because the boy brought there wore a scapular and they knew he must be a Catholic .