midnight
_ Occurrences That Puzzle . _ To the pagan yet remaining in man it would seem that yon railroad train plunging toward the Southland is somehow conscious of the fact that it is playing a part in events of tremendous import , for observe how it pierces the darkness with its one wild eye , cleaves the air with its steely front and causes wars and thunders to creep into the dreams of the people by whose homes it makes its midnight rush . Well , this train now moving toward Almaville , queen city of the South , measured by the results that developed from that night 's journey , is fully entitled to all its fretting and fuming , brag and bluster of steam and smoke , and to its wearisome jangle of clanging bell and shrieking whistle and rumbling wheel . It was summer time . A Negro porter passing through a coach set apart for white passengers noted the fixedness with which a young woman with a pretty face and a pair of beautiful blue eyes was regarding him .