midnight
He had only to run down the three fields and cross the belt of firs to come to Anne 's shelter at the bottom . The blank , projecting wall of the mill hid it from the cottages and the Manor Farm house ; the firs hid it from the field path ; a high bank , topped by a stone wall , hid it from the road and Sutton 's Farm . Its three wooden walls held them safe . Night after night , between eleven and midnight , he came to her . Night after night , she lay awake waiting till the light rustling of the meadow grass told her he was there : on moonlit nights a quick brushing sound ; in the thick blackness a sound like a slow shearing as he felt his way . The moon would show him clear , as he stood in the open frame of the shelter , looking in at her ; or she would see him grey , twilit and mysterious ; or looming , darker than dark , on black nights without moon or stars . They loved the clear nights when their bodies showed to each other white under the white moon ; they loved the dark nights that brought them close , shutting them in , annihilating every sensation but that of his tense , hard muscles pressing down , of her body crushed and yielding , tightening and slackening in surrender ; of their brains swimming in their dark ecstasy .