the April midnight
`` Have n't I been in training for a year -- even though I did n't know why I was training ? '' `` I think we 've both been in training for the year , '' said Brown . `` Even though we did n't know -- God knew -- and when He trains -- then the end is sure ! '' When he had put them in their car , and had taken leave of them with a look which he found it hard to tear away , plain and unpretentious travellers though they were that night , he went striding back through the April midnight to the little old house the Englishman had built so long ago . As he let himself in , Bim came tearing to meet him . The firelight was still bright upon the hearth , and Brown sat down before it , leaning forward to look into the glowing coals with eyes which saw there splendid things . The dog came close and laid his head on Brown 's knee and received the absent-minded but friendly caress he longed for .