midnight
gasped Fletcher , nettled by the last remark . `` Do you mean to tell me those Blakes are fools enough to eat spring chicken when they could get forty cents apiece for 'em in the open market ? '' `` The old lady does , '' corrected the boy glibly . `` The one who wears the queer lace cap and sits in the big chair by the hearth all day -- and all night , too , Tommy Spade says , 'cause he peeped through once at midnight and she was still there , sitting so stiff that it scared him and he ran away . Well , Aunt Mehitable sold her a dozen , and she got a side of bacon and a bag of meal . '' `` Grandfather , you 've forgotten Aunt Saidie , '' broke in Maria , as Fletcher was about to begin his grace without waiting for a dumpy little woman , in purple calico , who waddled with an embarrassed air from her hasty preparations in the pantry . At first Carraway had mistaken her for an upper servant , but as she came forward Maria laid her hand playfully upon her arm and introduced her with a sad little gaiety of manner .