midnight
Had she counted on being back in time for me not to perceive her absence , and had she been detained by chance ? Why had she said nothing to Nanine , or why had she not written ? What was the meaning of those tears , this absence , this mystery ? That is what I asked myself in affright , as I stood in the vacant room , gazing at the clock , which pointed to midnight , and seemed to say to me that it was too late to hope for my mistress 's return . Yet , after all the arrangements we had just made , after the sacrifices that had been offered and accepted , was it likely that she was deceiving me ? No . I tried to get rid of my first supposition .