midnight
Either the illusion , or the supper cheered him , for he was encouraged to go on to his club . There in the library , with the aid of an atlas , he worked out where , after thirteen hours of moving at the rate of twenty-two knots an hour , she should be at that moment . Having determined that fact to his own satisfaction , he sent a wireless after the ship . It read : `` It is now midnight and you are in latitude 40 ° north , longitude 68 ° west , and I have grown old and gray waiting for the sign . '' The next morning , and for many days after , he was surprised to find that the city went on as though she still were in it . With unfeeling regularity the sun rose out of the East River . On Broadway electric-light signs flashed , street-cars pursued each other , taxicabs bumped and skidded , women , and even men , dared to look happy , and had apparently taken some thought to their attire .