midnight
Not to the old cottage ; that was Ralph 's home no longer , but to the home of wealth and beauty now , to the mansion yonder in the city where the mother was waiting for her boy . Aye ! the mother was waiting for her boy . They had sent a messenger on horseback shortly after midnight to tell her that the lad 's tracks had been found in the old mine , that all the men at hand had started in there to make the search more thorough , that by daylight the child would be in her arms , that possibly , oh ! by the merest possibility , he might still be living . So through the long hours she had waited , had waited and watched , listening for a footfall in the street , for a step on the porch , for a sound at her door ; yet no one came . The darkness that lay upon the earth seemed , also , to lie heavily on her spirit .