midnight
`` Good-bye , my beauty ! '' returned Josey , with emphatic earnestness -- `` An ' God bless ye an ' make all the rough places smooth for ye ! You 'll find us all ` ere , lovin ' an ' true , whenever ye comes , mornin ' , noon or night -- the village ai n't the world , but you 've got round it , my dearie -- you 've got round it ! '' And in the deep midnight when the church chimes rang the hour , and the moon poured a pearly shower of luminance over the hushed woodland and silently winding river , Josey lay broad awake , resignedly conscious of his extreme age , and thinking soberly of the beginning and end of life , -- the dawn and fruition of love , -- the wonderful , beautiful , complex labyrinth of experience through which every human soul is guided from one mystic turn to another of mingled joy and sorrow by that supreme Wisdom , Whom , though we can not see , we trust , -- and feeling the near close of his own long life-journey , he folded his withered hands and prayed aloud : `` For all Thy childern , O Lord God , that ` ave gone by the last milestone on the road an ' are growin ' footsore an ' weary , let there be Thy peace which passeth all understandin ' ! -- but for Squire 's gel with the little lonely heart of ` er beatin ' like the wings of a bird that wants a nest , let there be Love ! '' Next day at Badsworth Hall , a stately luncheon was in progress . Luncheon , or indeed any meal , partaken of under the rolling and excitable eye of Sir Morton Pippitt , was always a function fraught with considerable embarrassment to any guests who might happen to be present , being frequently assisted by the Shakespearean stage direction ` alarums and excursions . '