midnight
What struck me as even more strange was the fact that , according as we had or had not guests , she was two different women . The one -LRB- the woman figuring in society -RRB- was a young and healthy , but rather cold , beauty , a person richly dressed , neither stupid nor clever , and unfailingly cheerful . The other woman -LRB- the one in evidence when no guests were present -RRB- was considerably past her first youth , languid , depressed , slovenly , and ennuyee , though affectionate . Frequently , as I looked at her when , smiling , rosy with the winter air , and happy in the consciousness of her beauty , she came in from a round of calls and , taking off her hat , went to look at herself in a mirror ; or when , rustling in her rich , decollete ball dress , and at once shy and proud before the servants , she was passing to her carriage ; or when , at one of our small receptions at home , she was sitting dressed in a high silken dress finished with some sort of fine lace about her soft neck , and flashing her unvarying , but lovely , smile around her -- as I looked at her at such times I could not help wondering what would have been said by persons who had been ravished to behold her thus if they could have seen her as I often saw her , namely , when , waiting in the lonely midnight hours for her husband to return from his club , she would walk like a shadow from room to room , with her hair dishevelled and her form clad in a sort of dressing-jacket . Presently , she would sit down to the piano and , her brows all puckered with the effort , play over the only waltz that she knew ; after which she would pick up a novel , read a few pages somewhere in the middle of it , and throw it aside . Next , repairing in person to the dining-room , so as not to disturb the servants , she would get herself a cucumber and some cold veal , and eat it standing by the window-sill -- then once more resume her weary , aimless , gloomy wandering from room to room . But what , above all other things , caused estrangement between us was that lack of understanding which expressed itself chiefly in the peculiar air of indulgent attention with which she would listen when any one was speaking to her concerning matters of which she had no knowledge .