midnight
With his heavy , swaying gait he walked up to the bedside , grasped her hand -- that hot , wasted hand , with its bluish nails -- and stared down upon it . And then he sat down in the darkest corner , behind the stove , and crouched there for two long , long hours . `` With beating heart I waited for him to address me , but he was as silent as before . `` Soon after midnight he left the room . For a long time yet I heard him walking up and down outside in the corridor , and , at the muffled sound of his tramping footsteps , another night came into my mind , when I had listened , no less trembling in fear and hope , to the same sound . Worlds lay between then and now , and the young , foolish creature who had then hearkened out into the darkness , burning with the desire to help and to sacrifice herself , now appeared to me like a strange , radiant being from some distant , shining planet . `` The footsteps grew less distinct .