midnight
As I care for you now , so have I from the beginning ; so will I to the end ; care more for you , perhaps ; but never less , Louis . And that I know . '' More deeply moved than he perhaps cared to be , he walked on slowly in silence , measuring his step to hers . In the peace of the midnight world , in the peace of her presence , he was aware of a tranquillity , a rest that he had not known in weeks . Vaguely first , then uneasily , he remembered that he had not known it since her departure , and shook off the revelation with instinctive recoil -- dismissed it , smiled at it to have done with it . For such things could not happen . The woods were fragrant as they passed ; a little rill , swelling from the thicket of tangled jewel-weed , welled up , bubbling in the starlight .