nearly midnight
This thought , indeed , he carried to his bedroom and slept upon at last . He would find Lois to-morrow and she would be his messenger . There had still been excited crowds in the streets when he found his bedroom and a high balcony showed him the last phases of a weird pageant . Though it was then nearly midnight , Cossacks continued to patrol the avenue and the mob to deride them . By here and there , where the arc lamps illuminated the pavement , the white faces and slouching figures of the more obstinate among the Revolutionaries spoke of dogged defiance and an utter indifference to personal safety . Alban could well understand why the people had ventured out , but that they should have taken women and even young children with them astonished him beyond measure . These , certainly , could vindicate no principle when their flesh was cut by the brutal whips and the savage horses rode them down to emphasize the majesty of the Czar .