midnight
`` That is , if -- if -- I can learn myself . '' `` You have n't found out you are a woman yet , have you , Betty ? '' answered Sam , with a laugh that embarrassed me . I would have considered it ungrateful if it had n't sounded so comfortable and warm out in the cold of the dawn -- which had come before I realized that midnight had passed , about which time I had intended to go home . But how could a person feel guilty while playing Good Samaritan to a cow ? I did n't . Then , as the streak of new day widened into a soft pink flush over the tops of the bare trees that etched their fine twigs into an archaic pattern against a purple sky lit by the gorgeous flame of the morning star retreating before the coming sun , we all collected buckets and rags and bottles and sponges .