midnight in the early spring
While he was still wavering or fancying that he was wavering , the Managing Editor sent him to `` do '' a great strike-riot in the coal regions of Pennsylvania . He was there for three weeks , active day and night , interested in the new phases of life -- the mines and the miners , the display of fierce passions , the excitement , the peril . When he returned to New York , Alice had ceased to tempt him . * * * * * One midnight in the early spring he was in his sitting room , reading and a little bored . There came a knock at the door . He hoped that it was some one bringing something interesting or coming to propose a search for something interesting . `` Come in , '' he said with welcome in his voice .