midnight
It occurred to me now , as I washed and dressed , that when he spoke of my departing by night he intended to make just such an unceremonious exit himself . In that case , I inferred , he had thought it only fair , as I had helped him to get into the chateau , that he should offer to help me to get out , for he had made no secret of his fears that we might find opposition to our doing so . But , if he had indeed fled , how had he contrived to get out in the middle of the night ? As for his purpose in getting in , he must have accomplished that while on his midnight perambulations . I went downstairs , but he was not in the hall , nor on the terrace nor in the court-yard . It was a fine morning , and I was for walking about . At one side of the court-yard the wall was pierced by a narrow gateway , which took me into a second court-yard , of which one of the further angles was filled by a quadrant of the great tower that rose toward heaven from a corner of the main chateau .