midnight
For oratory , however polished , and scholarship , however plausible , can not stand before the wrath of an indignant man in a righteous cause who can handle himself and suppress his wrath upon the platform . As the week of the debate dragged on and as the pageant of it trailed clear across the State , with crowds hooting and cheering , Doctor Nesbit 's cup of joy ran over . And when Van Dorn failed to appear for the Saturday meeting at the capital , the Doctor 's happiness mounted to glee . That night , long after the midnight which ended the day 's triumph , Grant and the Doctor were sitting on a baggage truck at a way station waiting for a belated train . Grant was in the full current of his passion . Personal triumph meant little to him -- the cause everything . His heart was afire with a lust to win .