midnight
When I am gone , Alixe will be the only one who knows the secret of my life . ' `` It was two months later -- for I would not leave her side , even Pierre Troubetskoi could not see her passing away , for it was a mysterious malady -- when a sudden alarm brought me to my senses . My secret society work was done , and yet I lingered there , at the very steps of the scaffold . Alixe Delavigne burst into my room at midnight . ``` Hasten ! ' she cried . ` Even now the Cossacks are surrounding the house ! '