midnight
When an ignominious death stared this woman in the face , she had cried to her God : `` Though You slay me , yet will I trust You ! '' and to-night she bowed her head in prayer , thankful that the uplifted hand held no longer a dagger , but had fallen tenderly in benediction . Far away in the heart of the city , the clock in its granite tower was striking two ; yet Beryl knelt at her oriel window , with her arms crossed on the wide sill , and her eyes fixed upon the shimmering sea , where a soft south wind ruffled it into ridges of silver , beneath a full May moon . Beyond those silent waters , hidden in some lonely , snow-girt eyry , where perhaps the muffled thunder of the Pacific responded to the midnight chants of his oratory , dwelt Bertie ; and to touch his hand once more , to hear from his own lips that he had made his peace with God , to kiss him good-bye seemed all that was left for accomplishment . Poor and unknown , she lacked apparently every means requisite for this attainment ; but faith , patience , and courage were hers . Daily work for daily wage was the present duty ; and in God 's good time she would find her brother . How , or when , so expensive and difficult a quest could be successfully prosecuted , disquieted her not ; she had learned to labor and to trust ; she remembered : `` Their strength is to sit still . ''