midnight
`` But they 'll not take her by surprise ; I 'll get there before them , and tell her . '' And silently Mr. Scanlon slipped through the hall door and was gone . As Bat Scanlon stepped out of the street car which took him to Nora Cavanaugh 's house , he looked at his watch . It was almost midnight . `` She 'll have had time to get home , '' he said to himself , `` but maybe it 'll be too late to see her . '' But he set his jaw at this thought , and shook his head with a bull-like motion . He sprang up the steps and pulled at the bell viciously .