ten o'clock at
night
She had heard the bells at eleven o'clock and had been wide awake ; at that moment Stradella was stepping over the marble balustrade into the loggia . She tried to say her prayer again , but it was of no use at all ; she knew that he was standing there just outside the great closed window , waiting , and that to see him she had only to pass through her dressing-room , where Pina slept on a trestle-bed , which was taken away every morning . There was only one door to Ortensia 's bedroom , which was the last on that floor of the house ; for it was proper that a noble Venetian girl should be safely guarded , and every night the Senator locked both the outer doors of the sitting-room where she had her lessons , and he kept the key under his pillow . Pina and Ortensia were in prison together from ten o'clock at night till seven every morning , and the girl could not leave her own room without passing Pina . To the Senator 's insufficient imagination two things were out of the question ; he was convinced that no one could get up into the loggia from below , and he was persuaded that Pina , unswerving in her devotion to his interests and honour , would guard Ortensia as jealously as the dragon guarded the Golden Fleece . Moreover , as to getting in by the window , a man would first have to get access to the walled garden below , which Pignaver regarded as another impossibility , for the wall was high , he himself kept the key of the postern that opened on the canal , and the gardener entered through the house . Nevertheless Stradella was standing in the loggia at eleven o'clock ; Ortensia was sure he was there , and at midnight she was still lying on her back , staring up at the canopy , with outstretched hands that clutched the edges of the bed on each side .