midnight
Bobby survived the withdrawal of his favor with amazing indifference . What puzzled and annoyed him beyond measure was that the more oblivious of him she seemed , the more acutely aware of her he became . Twenty times a day he assured himself that it made no earthly difference to him whether she was playing quoits with the Scotchman or bean-bag with Andy Black , and yet not a page of his book would become intelligible until he made a round of the deck to find out what she was doing . The evenings were even worse : midnight often found him wrapped in his rug in his steamer-chair or morosely pacing the deck , waiting for some festivity in which Bobby was engaged to come to an end . The shocking lack of chaperonage and the liberty allowed young girls in the States served as themes for more than one bitter letter home . But his cold aloofness was not destined to last . One morning when most of the passengers were concerned with the appearance of Bird Island on the horizon , he stumbled quite by accident upon Bobby curled up behind a wind-shelter on the other side of the deck , contributing some large salt tears to the brine of the ocean .