midnight
Benita cried a little now that her father could not see her , and then also sought refuge in bed . Evidently the end , whatever it might be , was near , and of it she could not bear to think . Moreover , her eyes were strangely heavy , so much so that before she had finished saying her prayers sleep fell upon her , and she knew no more . Had she remained as wakeful as it was often her fate to be during those fearful days , towards midnight she might have heard some light-footed creature creeping to her tent , and seen that the moon-rays which flowed through the gaping and ill-closed flap were cut off by the figure of a man with glowing eyes , whose projected arms waved over her mysteriously . But Benita neither heard nor saw . In her drugged rest she did not know that her sleep turned gradually to a magic swoon . She had no knowledge of her rising , or of how she threw her thick cloak about her , lit her lamp , and , in obedience to that beckoning finger , glided from the tent .