midnight
This night , however , as the time drew near when they must go , lest the Sabbath should be broken in Mistress Croale 's decent house , and Gibbie stood once more on tiptoe , with his head just on the level of the windowsill , he heard his father utter two words : `` Up Daurside '' came to him through the window , in the voice he loved , plain and distinct . The words conveyed to him nothing at all ; the mere hearing of them made them memorable . For the time , however , he forgot them , for , by indications best known to himself , he perceived that the company was on the point of separating , and from that moment did not take his eyes off the door until he heard the first sounds of its opening . As , however , it was always hard for Gibbie to stand still , and especially hard on a midnight so cold that his feet threatened to grow indistinguishable from the slabs of the pavement , he was driven , in order not to lose sight of it , to practise the art , already cultivated by him to a crab-like perfection , of running first backwards , then forwards with scarcely superior speed . But it was not long ere the much expected sound of Mistress Croale 's voice heralded the hour for patience to blossom into possession . The voice was neither loud nor harsh , but clear and firm ; the noise that followed was both loud and strident . Voices had a part in it , but the movement of chairs and feet and the sudden contact of different portions of the body with walls and tables , had a larger .