nearly midnight
`` I love my mother -- and my dear daddy , '' she murmured drowsily . All night long Jim Dawson lay wide-eyed , staring into the darkness with his little sleeping girl in his arms , not doubting his wife for a moment , but wondering -- all night long -- wondering ! The next evening Jim did not go for his mail , but one of the neighbors driving by volunteered to get it for him . It was nearly midnight when the sound of wheels roused him from his reverie . He opened the door , and in the square of light the horses stopped . `` Hello , Jim -- is that you ? '' called the neighbor ; `` I 've got something for you . ''