midnight
The shock , in any case , of sudden liberty , would be a severe one , and the meeting with his attached comrade would act as a preparation for that with his wife . Mother and son sat hand in hand after hearing the carriage drive off with Malcolm next morning . In the hours they had spent together they had come to know each other , and the relationship had become a real one . They had scarce been able to make out each other 's features at their midnight meeting on the terrace , and at that meeting , rejoiced as they both were , there was still a feeling of strangeness between them . Now they knew each other as they were , and both were well satisfied . The countess was less strange to Ronald than he was to her . Malcolm had already described her to him as he knew her eighteen years before , and the reality agreed closely with the ideal that Ronald had pictured to himself , except that she was younger and brighter .