midnight
The songs seemed to be in every language in Europe , and he did not understand anything like half of them , so far , at least , as the words were concerned . They were , however , so far removed from the average drawing-room medley of twaddle and rattle that the music interpreted the words into its own universal language , and made them almost superfluous . For the most part they were sad and passionate , and once or twice , especially when Radna Michaelis was singing , Arnold saw tears well up into the eyes of the women , and the brows of the men contract and their hands clench with sudden passion at the recollection of some terrible scene or story that was recalled by the song . At last , close on midnight , the President rose from his seat and asked Natasha to sing the `` Hymn of Freedom . '' She acknowledged the request with an inclination of her head , and then as Radna sat down to the piano , and she took her place beside it , all the rest rose to their feet like worshippers in a church . The prelude was rather longer than usual , and as Radna played it Arnold heard running through it , as it were , echoes of all the patriotic songs of Europe from `` Scots Wha Hae '' and `` The Shan van Voght '' to the forbidden Polish National Hymn and the Swiss Republican song , which is known in England as `` God Save the Queen . '' The prelude ended with a few bars of the `` Marseillaise , '' and then Natasha began .