midnight
Poor , callous-footed Mrs. Schum , with her spotted bombazine bosom and her loosely anchored knob of gray hair ! She was the color of cold dish water at that horrid moment when the grease begins to float , her hands were corroded with it , and her smile somehow could catch you by the heartstrings , which smiles have no right to do . How patiently and how drearily she padded through these early years of Lilly 's existence . There were rubber insets in her shoes which sagged so that her ankles seemed actually to touch the floor from the climbing upstairs and downstairs on her missionary treadmill of the cracked slop jar ; the fly in the milk ; the too-tepid shaving water ; the bathroom monopoly ; the infant cacophony of midnight colic ; salt on the sleety sidewalk , the pasted handkerchief against a front window pane ; ice water . Towels . Towels . Towels .