midnight
When her eyes wandered from his face he looked again at her brown firm cheeks . From the beginning of the interview he had been intending to help her . `` Give me the lady 's address , '' he said ; `` I 'll go look her over . '' Three evenings later Sam took Miss Luella London to a midnight supper at one of the town 's best restaurants . She knew the motive of his taking her , as he had been quite frank in the few minutes ' talk near the stage door of the theatre when the engagement was made . As they ate , they talked of the plays at the Chicago theatres , and Sam told her a story of an amateur performance that had once taken place in the hall over Geiger 's drug store in Caxton when he was boy . In the performance Sam had taken the rôle of a drummer boy killed on the field of battle by a swaggering villain in a grey uniform , and John Telfer , in the rôle of villain , had become so in earnest that , a pistol not exploding at a critical moment , he had chased Sam about the stage trying to hit him with the butt of the weapon while the audience roared with delight at the realism of Telfer 's rage and at the frightened boy begging for mercy .