midnight
Why , at any moment they may walk in , '' she added brightly , and her cheerfulness was not altogether assumed . For Auntie Alice could not bring herself to believe that the children were really lost , or gone from their sight for all time -- that until they met together , small and great , around the throne of God in heaven they should see them no more . In the dead of night , when the house was still and baby sleeping quietly in his bassinet by Perry 's bedside , she would leave her room and go into the nursery , where the sight of the empty cribs , the waiting garments , the books and toys lying in their usual places , was almost more than she could bear . Then she would feel with her sister that they were indeed gone for ever , and an earnest prayer for the absent father , upon whom the sudden blow would fall with stunning force , would wing its way out of the silence of the midnight hours to the God who is so specially a children 's God . And would He not watch over them faithfully and keep them in safety ? Ay , surely . But whether He should give them back in life to those who grieved so deeply for their loss , or fold them gently in the everlasting security of His own bosom , was a question to which as yet there had come no answer .