midnight
`` She 's very handy for me , so she is . We ` o n't part with ` ach other whativer befalls , so we ` o n't , '' and Maggie looked up with a wistful smile , only half reassured . To her the shut-down seemed like the end of the world . Some of the French people took time by the forelock and boarded the midnight train that very Saturday with all their possessions . A little later two or three families departed by the same train , under cover of the darkness between two days , without stopping to pay even their house rent . These mysterious flittings , like that of the famous Tartar tribe , roused a suspicion against their fellow countrymen , but after a succession of such departures almost everybody else thought it far cheaper to stay among friends . It seemed as if at any moment the great mill wheels might begin to turn , and the bell begin to ring , but day after day the little town was still and the bell tolled the hours one after another as if it were Sunday .