midnight
All these peculiarities appeared one by one in the intervals between her attentions to Mart and her study of the furnishings of the table , which was decorated with candles and flowers in a way quite new to her . Fordyce was as fine as he looked . Nothing equivocal was in `` that magnificent boy , '' as his friends called him , and his interest in little Mrs. Haney was that of the Easterner who , having been told that strange things take place in the West , is disappointed if they do not happen under his nose . He had heard much of the Haneys from Congdon , and had been especially impressed with the story of Bertha 's midnight ride to the bedside of the dying gambler . The wedding in the saloon , her devotion to the wounded man , their descent upon the Springs , and their domestication in a stone palace -- all appealed to his imagination . Such things could not happen in Chester ; they were of the mountain West , and most satisfying to his taste . Bertha , on her part , had to admit that the people at the table were most kindly , even considerate .