midnight
Mister Sawyer or Uncle Ab ? '' `` I -- I think , '' said the first citizen with a gulp , `` that I like Uncle Ab a little better . '' `` So do I , '' said Jimsy . With a wind-beaten flutter of wings , Jimsy 's Christmas fled at midnight . Dawn grayed bleakly over the Sawyer home , and there came an hour when Peggy waited to carry Jimsy to the station . Nervous and irritable -- why he did not know save that time was crowding and he must deliver Jimsy to the minister in time for the 8.32 , Abner Sawyer strode resolutely to the kitchen door . But he did not summon Jimsy .