midnight
Migwan 's family could have used to advantage all the gold which she was dreaming of earning . After her father died her mother 's income , from various sources , amounted to only about seventy-five dollars a month , which is not a great amount when there are three children to keep in school , and it was a struggle all the way around to make both ends meet . Mrs. Gardiner was a poor manager and kept no accounts , and so took no notice of the small leaks that drained her purse from month to month . She was fond of reading , as Migwan was , and sat up until midnight every night burning gas . Then the next morning she would be too tired to get up in time to get the children off to school , and they would depart with a hasty bite , according to their own fancy , or without any breakfast at all , if they were late . She bought ready-made clothes when she could have made them herself at half the cost , and generally chose light colors which soiled quickly . She never went to the store herself , depending on Tom or scatter-brained Betty , her younger daughter , to do her marketing , and in consequence paid the highest prices for inferior-grade goods .