midnight
`` What is it , darling ? '' he asked , advancing towards her ; and laying her aching head upon his bosom , she told him of her loss , and how much she missed the little brown-faced girl , who had been so kind to her . And Howard Hastings missed her too -- missed the tones of her gentle voice , the soft tread of her busy feet , and more than all , missed the sunlight of comfort she had shed over his home . The baby missed her , too ; for over her Dora had acquired an almost mesmeric influence , and until midnight her wailing cry smote painfully upon the ear of the father , who , before the morning dawned , had concluded that Rose Hill was nothing without Dora Deane . `` She shall come back , too , '' he said , and the sooner to effect this , he started immediately after breakfast for the house of Mrs. Deane . Very joyfully the deep blue eyes of Dora , who met him at the door , looked up into his , and her bright face flushed with delight when he told her why he had come . Both Eugenia and her mother were convalescent , and sitting by the parlor fire , the one in a shilling calico , and the other in a plaid silk morning gown .