midnight
Without warning she came and without farewells she left Edelweiss on the occasion of these periodical visits . No word was ever spoken concerning her husband , except on the rare occasions when she opened her heart to the father who had bartered her into slavery for the sake of certain social franchises that the Iron Count had at his disposal . The outside world , which loved her , never heard of these bitter passages between father and child . Like Cinderella , she sometimes disappeared from joyous things at midnight ; the next heard of her , she was in Vienna , or at Schloss Marlanx . If the Duke of Perse repented of his bargain in giving his daughter to the Iron Count , he was never known to intimate as much . He loved Ingomede in his own , hard way . No doubt he was sorry for her .