midnight
`` Now , '' he said , `` you will come with me and have some dinner . '' Many women are shepherded through all life 's journeyings by their men -- fathers , brothers , husbands -- who look out their trains for them , put them in the care of guards , and shield them from all contact with sulky porters and extortionate cabmen . Olive , who had always to take her own ticket and fight her own and her mother 's battles , now tasted the joys of irresponsibility with Avenel . He compounded with Customs officials , who bowed low before him , he took part in the midnight scramble for pillows at Modane , emerging from the crowd in triumph with no less than three of the coveted aids to repose under his arm , and he saw Olive comfortably settled in another compartment with two motherly German women , and there left her . At Turin he secured places in the _ diretto _ to Florence , and sent his man to the buffet for coffee and rolls , and the two broke their fast together . `` Italy and the joy of life , '' Olive said lightly , as she lifted her cup , and he looked at her with melancholy brown eyes that yet held the ghost of a smile . `` The passing hour , '' he answered ; adding prosaically , `` This is good coffee . ''