midnight
I regret to admit that Mr. Woods did not toss feverishly about his bed all through the silent watches of the night . He was very miserable , but he was also twenty-six . That is an age when the blind bow-god deals no fatal wounds . It is an age to suffer poignantly , if you will ; an age wherein to aspire to the dearest woman on earth , to write her halting verses , to lose her , to affect the _ clichés _ of cynicism , to hear the chimes at midnight -- and after it all , to sleep like a top . So Billy slept . And kind Hypnos loosed a dream through the gates of ivory that lifted him to a delectable land where Peggy was nineteen , and had never heard of Kennaston , and was unbelievably sweet and dear and beautiful . But presently they and the Colonel put forth to sea -- on a great carved writing-desk -- fishing for sharks , which the Colonel said were very plentiful in those waters ; and Frederick R. Woods climbed up out of the sea , and said Billy was a fool and must go to college ; and Peggy said that was impossible , as seventeen hundred and fifty thousand children had to be given an education apiece , and they could n't spare one for Billy ; and a missionary from Zambesi Land came out of one of the secret drawers and said Billy must give him both of his feet as he needed them for his working-girls ' classes ; and thereupon the sharks poked their heads out of the water and began , in a deafening chorus , to cry , `` Feet , feet , feet ! ''