midnight
Their hands touched on the pump-handle . It was the boy who drew his hand away . The girl gasped : -- `` Why , John Barclay , -- it ai n't no such thing -- does your ma know it ? '' He told her that no one knew it but her , and they pumped in silence until the bucket was full , and walking back carrying the bucket between them , he told her another secret : that Watts McHurdie had asked John to get his guitar after midnight , and play an accompaniment to the accordion , and that Watts and Ward and Jake Dolan and Gabriel Carnine were going out serenading . Further he told her that Watts was going to serenade Nellie Logan at the Thayer House , and that Gabriel Carnine was going to serenade Mary Murphy , and that Philemon Ward was going to serenade Miss Lucy , and that he , John Barclay , had suggested that it would be fine to serenade Mrs. Culpepper , because she was such a nice woman , and they agreed that if he would bring his guitar , they would ! When the boy and girl returned to the store , Ward and Miss Lucy went to the Barclay home for the guitar . When they came back , Mrs. Barclay noted a pink welt on one of Ward 's fingers where his cameo ring had been , and she observed that from time to time Miss Lucy kept feeling of her hair as if to smooth it .