midnight
And side by side with the quick-handed , quick-tongued maiden , whose every limb was full of electric springiness , was that charming clumsiness of the neophyte , -- such a contrast ! How they laughed together when Melanie came to announce that she had forgotten to put yeast in the cake , both her hands covered with sticky leaven , for all the world as if she were wearing winter gloves ; or when , at Cizpra 's command , she tried to take a little yellow downy chicken from the cold courtyard to a warm room , keeping up the while a lively duel with the jealous brood-hen , till finally Melanie was obliged to run . How much two girls can laugh together over a thousand such humorous nothings ! And how they could chatter over a thousand still more humorous nothings , when of an evening , by moonlight , they opened the window looking out on the garden , and lying on the worked window-cushions , talked till midnight , of all the things in which no one else was interested ? Melanie could tell many new things to Czipra which the latter delighted to hear . There was one thing which they had touched on once or twice jestingly , and which Czipra would have particularly loved to extract from her . Melanie , now and again forgetting herself , would sigh deeply .