midnight
One dark , rainy night in late June , Alix stole out of the old farmhouse on the ridge and met her lover at the abandoned tollgate half a mile up the road . He waited there with a buggy and a fast team of horses . Out of a ramshackle cupboard built in the wall of the toll-house , they withdrew the bundles surreptitiously placed there by Alix in anticipation of this great and daring event , and made off toward the city at a break-neck , reckless speed . They were married before midnight , and the next day saw them on their way to the Far West . But not before Alix had despatched a messenger to her father , telling him of her act and asking his forgiveness for the sake of the love she bore him . The same courier carried back to the city a brief response from David Windom . In a shaken , sprawling hand he informed her that if she ever decided to return to her home ALONE , he would receive her and forgive her for the sake of the love he bore her , but if she came with the coward who stole her away from him , he would kill him before her eyes .