midnight
What was she feeling left alone in the empty hall ? The mystery of life and the unreality even of one 's own sensations overcame him as he walked down the corridor which led to his room . It was dimly lighted , but sufficiently for him to see a figure in a bright dressing-gown pass swiftly in front of him , the figure of a woman crossing from one room to another . Whether too slight or too vague the ties that bind people casually meeting in a hotel at midnight , they possess one advantage at least over the bonds which unite the elderly , who have lived together once and so must live for ever . Slight they may be , but vivid and genuine , merely because the power to break them is within the grasp of each , and there is no reason for continuance except a true desire that continue they shall . When two people have been married for years they seem to become unconscious of each other 's bodily presence so that they move as if alone , speak aloud things which they do not expect to be answered , and in general seem to experience all the comfort of solitude without its loneliness . The joint lives of Ridley and Helen had arrived at this stage of community , and it was often necessary for one or the other to recall with an effort whether a thing had been said or only thought , shared or dreamt in private .