midnight
Then , his face still whiter , his lips livid , Case turned to Sergeant Woodrow . `` That man has no right to be heard here -- much less to be wearing chevrons , '' said he . `` His name 's Quigley , a deserter from the Lost and Strayed ! '' It was then just midnight , and the sergeant of the guard , coming to close the festivities , went back with an unlooked-for prisoner , who , every inch of the way , cursed and foamed and fought , and swore hideous vengeance on Case for a cur and a coward , so that the fury of his denunciation reached even the general 's quarters , where peace and congratulation were having sway , and lovers were still whispering ere parting for the night -- reached even the ears of Willett himself , reclining blissfully at the open window , with Lilian 's hand in his , her fair head pillowed on his shoulder . There in the open hearth lay the ashes of the letters , unread , unopened , that had come to accuse him , but even the fires of hell could not burn out the memory of the wrong that , after all , had tracked him here unerringly , for in the few half-drunken , all-damning words that reached him , Harold Willett heard the trumpeting of his own disgrace . His sin had found him out . And , barely an hour before , he had sworn to her that the Stella of whom he had babbled in his dreams was indeed but a favorite hound he had lost in the Columbia ; that no Stella had penned a line to him in years , and , taking her sweet , upturned face between his palms , with the soft , tender brown eyes looking fondly down into the trustful , beautiful blue , he had said : `` My darling , like other men , I have had fancies in boyish days , and even a flame or two , but never a love , _ real _ love , until you came into my life .