midnight
Aunt Betsey plead and Susan pouted and scolded ; but the laws of the Medes and Persians were not more irrevocable than some of Miss Josey 's notions ; and promising to come again if possible before the summer was over , and exacting a promise from Susy to forward to her address in New York any letters that might come for her from her _ cousin _ at Niagara -LRB- slyboots ! -RRB- -- she flitted away . The morning stage from West Falls took her down to Utica ; and the train at the Thirty-second Street Station at New York , that evening , landed her at home again , dustier even than when she went North , and this time alone , except as pleasant thoughts may have been her companions . Long before midnight she burst in upon good Mrs. Harris , with a fearful jangling of carriage-steps and ringing of door-bells , leading that lady to believe , at first , that she had been brought home in a sick or dying condition . But the maternal embrace was warm , those red lips had never forgotten the kiss of dear love and confidence upon those that had first caressed her when she came into the world ; and odd , wild , erratic Joe had a habit which many people with more opportunities have managed to escape -- that of being _ always welcome _ . It was of course too late , that night , for any conference with Richard Crawford . But the next morning , before nine o'clock , his house was treated to a repetition of the same ringing of bells that had sounded in her own the night before , and Joe , all breathless eagerness -LRB- another one of the bad habits of her childhood , that she had never been able to overcome -RRB- stood talking in the hall with the domestic who had admitted her .