midnight
They stood slouched in dim and solemn phalanx under the night sky , so seasonably , clear and frostily atwinkle with Christmas-week stars ; two by two they stood , slouched close together , perhaps for their mutual warmth , perhaps in an unconscious effort to get near the door where the loaves were to be given out , in time to share in them before they were all gone . My friend 's heart beat with glad anticipation . He was really to see this important , this representative thing to the greatest possible advantage . He rapidly explained to his companion that the giver of the midnight loaves got rid of what was left of his daily bread in that way : the next day it could not be sold , and he preferred to give it away to those who needed it , rather than try to find his account in it otherwise . She understood , and he tried to think that sometimes coffee was given with the bread , but he could not make sure of this , though he would have liked very much to have it done ; it would have been much more dramatic . Afterwards he learned that it was done , and he was proud of having fancied it . He decided that when he came alongside of the Broadway file he would get out , and go to the side door of the bakery and watch the men receiving the bread .