midnight
` You 'll have plenty of offers if you want them , without taking trouble , ' said the direct Mrs. Goodman . ` Your existence is hardly known to the world yet , and Captain De Stancy is too near middle-age for a girl like you . ' Paula did not reply to either of these remarks , being seemingly so interested in Ehrenbreitstein 's heights as not to hear them . It was midnight at Coblenz , and the travellers had retired to rest in their respective apartments , overlooking the river . Finding that there was a moon shining , Paula leant out of her window . The tall rock of Ehrenbreitstein on the opposite shore was flooded with light , and a belated steamer was drawing up to the landing-stage , where it presently deposited its passengers . ` We should have come by the last boat , so as to have been touched into romance by the rays of this moon , like those happy people , ' said a voice .