midnight
Ah , poor Susy ! After all , she had merely obeyed the instinct of self preservation , the old hard habit of keeping up , going ahead and hiding her troubles ; unless indeed the habit had already engendered indifference , and it had become as easy for her as for most of her friends to pass from drama to dancing , from sorrow to the cinema . What of soul was left , he wondered -- ? His train did not start till midnight , and after leaving the restaurant Nick tramped the sultry by-ways till his tired legs brought him to a standstill under the vine-covered pergola of a gondolier 's wine-shop at a landing close to the Piazzetta . There he could absorb cooling drinks until it was time to go to the station . It was after eleven , and he was beginning to look about for a boat , when a black prow pushed up to the steps , and with much chaff and laughter a party of young people in evening dress jumped out . Nick , from under the darkness of the vine , saw that there was only one lady among them , and it did not need the lamp above the landing to reveal her identity .