midnight
Loath to see him open his eyes , I kept very still , while nearly another hour dragged by , listening hard for Senda 's return , but hearing only , once or twice , through the narrow stairway and closets between the two bedrooms , a faint stir that showed Mrs. Fontenette was awake and being waited on . I was grateful for the rarity of outdoor sounds ; a few tree-frogs piped , two or three solitary wayfarers passed in the street ; twice or more the sergeant of the night-watch trilled his whistle in a street or two behind us , and twice or more in front ; and once , and once again , came the distant bellow of steamboats passing each other -- not the famous boats whose whistle you would know one from another , for they were laid up . I doubt if I have forgotten any sound that I noticed that night . I remember the drowsy rumble of the midnight horse-car and tinkle of its mule 's bell , first in Prytania street and then in Magazine . It was just after these that at last a black hand beckoned me to the door , and under her breath the old nurse told me she was just back from our house , where her mistress had sent her , and that -- `` De-eh -- de-eh '' -- `` The Baroness ? '' `` Yass , sih , de -- de outlayndish la-ady -- '' Senda had sent word that the child had only an indigestion -- a thing serious enough in such a case -- and though still slightly feverish was now asleep , but restless . `` Sih ?