Twelve o'clock
She longed to have Grace come to her and tell her the result of her interview with Jack , and she longed to know what that letter would say . Never for an instant had it occurred to her that at a moment 's notice a home could be abandoned , a young wife left to mourn , a delightful station left to anybody who wanted the place , and all as an every-day incident of army life . That such things could be expected and demanded in the midst of a mortal struggle for national honor was another matter entirely , -- something to be encountered once in a lifetime , and something to be cherished in family tradition as grand , patriotic , heroic , and worthy of keeping in remembrance from generation to generation ; but that to do all this merely as a piece of duty because one 's particular regiment happened to be setting forth on probably hazardous service , but of a trivial nature as compared with the interests involved in the only war she heard much talked of , why , she never dreamed of such a possibility , and her ideas were no more vague than are those of the general public on precisely the same subject . Twelve o'clock struck from the great bell over at the tower , and still Grace and her husband remained below . It was time -- high time to go to bed , said Miss Sanford , though still perplexed , anxious , and distressed . Grace would surely come to her as soon as matters were decided . She stepped to her window to take a good-night look at the moonlit plain .