midnight
Schrotter had stood on the step of the carriage till the very last moment , holding his friend 's hand . Now Wilhelm leaned back in his corner and closed his eyes , and while the train rattled along over the snow-covered plain , he asked himself for the first time whether after all Dorfling had been quite such a fool as most of them considered him to have been ? On alighting next morning at the station in Hamburg , Wilhelm found himself clasped in a pair of strong arms and pressed to a magnificent fur coat . Inside this warm garment there beat a still warmer heart , that of Paul Haber , who had received a letter from Wilhelm the day before , telling him of his dismissal from Berlin , and that he was leaving for Hamburg by the last train before midnight , and whom neither the cold and darkness nor the extreme earliness of the hour could restrain from meeting his friend at the station . Their greeting was short and affectionate . `` A hearty welcome to you ! '' cried Paul .