midnight
When I presently was in my bed I minded me of the carol the little ones were to sing ; and then I remembered my own school-days , and how the Carthusian Sisters had explained to us those words of Scripture : `` And the times shall be fulfilled . '' They were written , to be sure , of a special matter , of the birth of our Saviour and Redeemer ; yet I applied them to myself and Gotz , and wondered in my heart whether indeed anything that had ever befallen me in life , whether for joy or for sorrow , had been in vain , and how matters might have stood with me now if , as a young unbroken thing , or ever I had gone through the school of life , I had been plighted to this man , whom the Almighty had from the first fated to be my husband . If the wilful blood of the Schoppers , unquelled as it had then been , had come into strife with Gotz 's iron will , there would have been more than enough of hard hitting on both sides , and how easily might all our happiness have been wrecked thereby . It was past midnight when at last I slept ; and in the dim morning twilight the Christmas chorus rang through the house in the words the Shepherds heard in Angels ' voices : `` Glory to God in the highest , and on earth peace . '' It woke Gotz , and when we presently got into the sleigh , he whispered to me : `` How piously glad was your hymn , my sweetheart ! And you were right yestereve , and peace shall indeed reign on earth , and above all betwixt you and me , everywhere and at all times till the E N D. '' ... The children entreat me to write more of Margery 's unfinished tale .