midnight
before
He had gone down into the basements of human life and there made a cockpit for his animal rage , till , in the contest , brain and intellect had been saturated by the fumes and sweat of fleshly fury . How quiet the night was , how soothing to the fevered mind and body , how the cool air laved the heated head and flushed the lungs of the rheum of passion ! He rode on and on , farther and farther away from home , his back upon the scenes where his daily deeds were done . It was long past midnight before he turned his horse 's head again homeward . Buried in his thoughts , now calm and determined , with a new life grown up in him , a new strength different from the mastering force which gave him a strength in the theatre like one in a delirium , he noticed nothing . He was only conscious of the omniscient night and its warm , penetrating friendliness ; as , in a great trouble , when no words can be spoken , a cool , kind palm steals into the trembling hand of misery and stills it , gives it strength and life and an even pulse . He was now master in the house of his soul , and had no fear or doubt as to the future or as to his course .