midnight
A messenger had come from Mrs. Puckridge to say that Miss Meredith was worse , and if the doctor did not start at once , she would be dead before he reached Owlkirk . He sent orders to his groom to saddle Niger and bring him round instantly , and hurried on his clothes , vexed that he had taken Ruber both in the morning and afternoon , and could not have him now . But Niger was a good horse also : if he was but two-thirds of Ruber 's size , he was but one-third of his age , and saw better at night . On the other hand he was less easily seen , but the midnight there was so still and deserted , that that was of small consequence . In a few minutes they were out together in a lane as dark as pitch , compelled now to keep to the roads , for there was not light enough to see the pocket-compass by which the surgeon sometimes steered across country . Could we learn what waking-dreams haunted the boyhood of a man , we should have a rare help toward understanding the character he has developed . Those of the young Faber were , almost exclusively , of playing the prince of help and deliverance among women and men .