An hour after midnight
I spoke his name softly to myself , and feared lest he should hear . Then he came out from the bushes and whispered : ` An hour after midnight ! ' And then he was gone . `` ` An hour after midnight , ' I said to myself -- ` what did he mean by that ? I can not understand . He must have meant he was going away to far lands again ; an hour after midnight he was going away -- but what was it to me ? ' `` An hour after midnight he came back . ''