midnight
Then he left us , and I watched his tall form , crowned with silvery hair , as he passed down the cherry-tree avenue . Later in the evening the moon came out , and I saw a Mackinac boat skimming by the house , its white sails swelling full in the fresh breeze . ` That is Father Piret 's boat , ' said my hostess . ` The wind is fair ; he will reach the Chenaux before midnight . ' A day later , and I too sailed away . As the steamer bore me southward , I looked back toward the island with a sigh . Half hidden in its wild green garden I saw the old Agency ; first I could distinguish its whole rambling length ; then I lost the roofless piazza , then the dormer-windows , and finally I could only discern the white chimneys , with their crumbling crooked tops .