midnight
`` Then -LRB- this is how it has been told to me -RRB- one night Stoffel woke up in the dark , and his wife was not beside him . '' ` Is it morning already ? ' he said , and looked through the window . But the stars were high and bright , and he saw it was scarcely midnight . `` He lay for a while , and then got up and drew on his clothes -- doing everything slowly , hoping she would return . But when he was done she was not yet come , and he went out in the dark to the kitchen , and there he found the outer door unlocked and heard the dog whining in the yard . `` He took his gun from the beam where it hung and went forth .