midnight
Meanwhile the letter had flown on its way with more than ordinary swiftness , as if it had known that a force was seeking to bring it back again . The Y.M.C.A. man was carried at high speed in an automobile to the nearest station to the camp , and arrived in time to catch the Baltimore train just stopping . In the Baltimore station he went to mail the letter just as the letter gatherer arrived with his keys to open the box . So the letter lost no time but was sorted and started northward before midnight , and by some happy chance arrived at its destination in time to be laid by Ruth Macdonald 's plate at lunch time the next day . Some quick sense must have warned Ruth , for she gathered her mail up and slipped it unobtrusively into the pocket of her skirt before it could be noticed . Dottie Wetherill had come home with her for lunch and the bright red Y.M.C.A. triangle on the envelope was so conspicuous . Dottie was crazy over soldiers and all things military .