midnight
Once fairly on the sea , Madam Conway became exceedingly impatient and disagreeable , complaining both of fare and speed , and at length came on deck one morning with the firm belief that something dreadful had happened to Maggie ! She was dangerously sick , she knew , for never but once before had she been visited with a like presentiment , and that was just before her daughter died . Then it came to her just as this had done , in her sleep , and very nervously the lady paced the vessel 's deck , counting the days as they passed , and almost weeping for joy when told Boston was in sight . Immediately after landing she made inquiries as to when the next train passing Hillsdale station would leave the city , and though it was midnight she resolved at all hazards to go on , for if Maggie were really ill there was no time to be lost ! Accordingly , when at four o'clock A.M. Maggie , who was partially awake , heard in the distance the shrill scream of the engine , as the night express thundered through the town , she little dreamed of the boxes , bundles , trunks , and bags which lined the platform of Hillsdale station , nor yet of the resolute woman in brown who persevered until a rude one-horse wagon was found in which to transport herself and her baggage to the old stone house . The driver of the vehicle , in which , under ordinary circumstances , Madam Conway would have scorned to ride , was a long , lean , half-witted fellow , utterly unfitted for his business . Still , he managed quite well until they turned into the grassy by-road , and Madam Conway saw through the darkness the light which Maggie had inadvertently left within the dining room !