midnight
Four days before Christmas , Mr. and Mrs. James Gray arrived , and Mrs. James was promptly pronounced to be `` all right '' by her husband 's family , though the poor girl , of course , underwent tortures before she was sure of their decision . Fred , who with his father and mother was to join in the great feast , brought Sally home from Wallacetown that same night , and took advantage of the mistletoe which Sylvia had hung up , right before them all . Thomas and Molly , both wonderfully citified already , appeared during the course of the next afternoon from opposite directions , and Molly played , and Thomas expounded scientific farming , to the wonder of them all . And finally Mr. Gray went to meet the midnight train from New York at Wallacetown the night before Christmas Eve , and found himself being squeezed half to pieces by the bear hugs of Austin and the hearty handshakes of Mr. Stevens . `` Pile right into the sleigh , '' he managed to say at last when he was partially released , but still gasping for breath ; `` we must n't stand fooling around here , with the thermometer at twenty below zero , and a whole houseful waiting to treat you the same way you 've treated me . Austin , seems as if you were bigger than ever , and you 've got a different look , same as Thomas and Molly have , only yours is more different . '' `` There was more room for improvement in my case , '' his son laughed back , throwing his arm around him again .