midnight
`` It may not seem much to such as you , Mrs. McVeigh , who has a business , and every traveller spending as he passes by , but Jim is none too saving , and with three crying babes and a rented farm it 's more than we can ever hope fer , '' answered Mrs. Bennet . `` Do n't you worry one bit more about it , Mary . Maybe the good Lord 'll find a way to help you fer the sake o ' Jim and the childer , '' Nancy said , encouragingly , and then she went into the kitchen to direct Bennet in the preparation of the broth , the baby still tucked under her arm , sleeping peacefully . It was almost midnight when Nancy arrived at the tavern . She carried a key for the front door , and passed up through the deserted hallway to her room . A child 's heavy breathing a few feet away told her that Katie Duncan was in dreamland . Jennie had left a lamp burning low on her table , and Nancy carried it over to the cot and looked at the little plump face of her latest adoption .