midnight
Meanwhile , Miss Evelina 's starved body was responding , slowly but surely , to the simple , well-cooked food . Hitherto , she had not cared to eat and scarcely knew what she was eating . Now she had learned to discriminate between hot rolls and baking-powder biscuit , between thick soups and thin broths , custards and jellies . Miss Evelina had wound one of the clocks , setting it by the midnight train , and loosening the machinery by a few drops of oil which she had found in an old bottle , securely corked . At eight , at one , and at six , Miss Hitty 's tray was left at her back door -- there had not been the variation of a minute since the first day . Preoccupied though she was , Evelina was not insensible of the kindness , nor of the fact that she was stronger , physically , than she had been for years . And now in the desolate garden , there was visible evidence of more kindness .