midnight
Distinguished professors -LRB- without their wives -RRB- might go to court as a reward for shedding added luster upon the German Empire , but lesser mortals who had received payment for services rendered might not . Her independent mother , still a favorite , for she was exceeding discreet , would have incurred the imperial displeasure if the truth were known . However , the incident passed unnoticed , and Franz , whatever his shortcomings , was a gentleman and kept her secret . The scene at the palace had been brilliant and sustaining and she had received much personal homage , for she was looking very beautiful and radiant , and the little adventure had been incense to her pride -LRB- moreover the young Freifrau von Nettelbeck , whom she saw on his arm later , was an insignificant little hausfrau -RRB- ; but when she was in her room after midnight she realized grimly that if she had not done her work so well during that terrible month in New York and buried her sex heart , she should once more be beating the floor or the wall with her impotent hands . But the knowledge of her immunity made her a little sad . The next episode to her grim humor was wholly amusing , although it played its part in her developing sense of revolt against the attitude of the German male to the sex of the mother that bore him . She returned to Munich after a month in Berlin , for by this time she had made up her mind to write , and the city by the Isar was the most beautiful in the world to write and to dream in .