midnight
-- S.M. . What a night of intense anxiety was that to the young Clary ! Hour after hour , she paced the veranda in front of the cottage ; now listening for approaching footsteps , now straining her eyes to catch through the gloom of the fir-trees the figure of him for whom she watched and wept in vain . The cold night wind sighed through her fair locks , scattering them upon the midnight air . The rising dews chilled the fragile form , but stilled not the wild throbbing of the aching heart . `` Oh , to know the worst -- the very worst -- were better than this sore agony . '' Years of care were compressed into that one night of weary watching .