midnight
`` Yes , '' replied Bab , `` or rather the next thing to one . Really , girls , I 'm getting more than my fair share this time . Ruth was in the fight , of course , but none of you have seen the old man who haunts the place , and I have seen him three times . He seems to be a perfectly harmless old man , but it does give one a start to meet him at midnight in a dark hall . '' `` Why , Barbara , are you dreaming ? What does it mean ? '' cried Mollie , seizing her sister 's hand and pulling her over on the bed beside them .