midnight
However faithful this man might be , he did not know the way ; and the queen 's guard on such an occasion should also have been a well-qualified guide . The queen was flurried with meeting the enemy 's carriage rumbling under the archway , with its flaring lights ; and , on entering the square , she took the turn to the right hand instead of the left . She and her guard wandered far away , over the bridge , and they knew not where . The queen of France wandering through the streets of Paris , losing her way on foot at midnight ! What could she have thought of a situation so new ? How must her guard have felt , with such a charge upon his arm ! And the Count , standing beside the hackney-coach-door ; and the party within !