midnight
The only ambition the mother cherished was that she might win the love of an honest man and build for herself a beautiful home on the site of the cottage covered with trailing roses . In this home dream for Marion she found a great sustaining joy to which nothing in the life of man answers . The ball had its political significance which the military martinet who commanded the post understood . It was the way the people of Piedmont expressed to him and the world their contempt for the farce of an election he had conducted , and their indifference as to the result he would celebrate with many guns before midnight . The young people of the town were out in force . Marion was a universal favourite . The grace , charm , and tender beauty of the Southern girl of sixteen were combined in her with a gentle and unselfish disposition .