midnight
` She has nae strength ; wan winter will finish her . ' Here the composure of the little seamstress gave way , and , dropping her heavy head on the sunny window-sill , she too wept passionately over the ruin of the girl she had loved . But Gladys wept no more . Standing there in the long yellow shaft cast by the sunshine , memory took her back to a never-to-be-forgotten night , when an old man and a maiden child had toiled through the streets of Glasgow after midnight , and how the throng of the streets had bewildered the wondering child , and had made her ask questions which never till this time had been satisfactorily answered . ` I begin to understand , Teen , ' she said slowly , with a shiver , as if a cold wind had passed over her . ` Life is even sadder than I thought . I wonder how God can bear to have it so .