midnight
`` I 'd git him back even ef he war n't no kin ter me , Eveliny , '' declared Tim , and he spoke advisedly , remembering that the youth was a Kittredge . Still Evelina said not a word . All that night she silently walked the puncheon floor , while the rest of the household slept . The dogs , in vague disturbance , because of the unprecedented vigil and stir in the midnight , wheezed uneasily from time to time , and crept restlessly about under the cabin , now and again thumping their backs or heads against the floor ; but at last they betook themselves to slumber . The hickory logs broke in twain as they burned , and fell on either side , and presently there was only the dull red glow of the embers on her pale face , and the room was full of brown shadows , motionless , now that the flames flared no more . Once when the red glow , growing ever dimmer , seemed almost submerged beneath the gray ashes , she paused and stirred the coals . The renewed glimmer showed a fixed expression in her eyes , becoming momently more resolute .