half past ten o'clock
The early dawn found me struggling still in this mental anguish , calling up my recollections , examining in a childish way the most minute circumstances that might tend to confirm or to banish my suspicions . Excess of fatigue , brought on at last two hours of prostration , from which I emerged with a better command of my reason . It was impossible for me to doubt the reality of the apparition that had struck my eyes during the night ; but it appeared to me that I had put upon it a hasty and senseless construction , and that my ailing spirit had attributed to it the least likely explanation . I went down at half past ten o'clock as usual . Madame de Palme was in the parlor ; she must therefore have spent the night at the chateau . Nevertheless , a mere glance at her was enough to remove from my mind the very shadow of suspicion . She was talking quietly in the center of a group .