midnight
His thoughts passed meantime like a shining flock of white doves to Amy , hovering about her . They stole onward to the time when she would be his wife ; when lying thus , he would wake in the night and see her dress on the wall and feel her head on his bosom ; when her little shoes might stand on his open Bible , if they chose , and the satin instep of her bare foot be folded in the hard hollow of his . He uttered a deep , voiceless , impassioned outcry that she might not die young nor he die young ; that the struggles and hardships of life , now seeming to be ended , might never begirt him or her so closely again ; that they might grow peacefully old together . To-morrow then , he would see her ; no , not tomorrow ; it was long past midnight now . He got down on his bare knees beside the bed with his face buried in his hands and said his prayers . And then lying outstretched with his head resting on his folded hands , the moonlight streaming through the window and lighting up his dark-red curls and falling on his face and neck and chest , the cool south wind blowing down his warm limbs , his eyes opening and closing in religious purity on the dress , and his mind opening and closing on the visions of his future , he fell asleep . WHEN he awoke late , he stretched his big arms drowsily out before his face with a gesture like that of a swimmer parting the water : he was in truth making his way out of a fathomless , moonlit sea of dreams to the shores of reality .