midnight
The story attracted no particular attention , for in those days such occurrences were far from rare . Casanova resumed his narrative where it had been interrupted , resumed it as if this Mantua affair concerned him just as little as it concerned the rest of the company . In fact , being now freed from a disquiet whose existence he had hardly been willing to admit even to himself , his manner became brighter and bolder than ever . It was past midnight when , after a light-hearted farewell , he walked alone across the wide , empty square . The heavens were veiled in luminous mist . He moved with the confident step of a sleep-walker . Without being really conscious that he was on a path which he had not traversed for five-and-twenty years , he found the way through tortuous alleys , between dark houses , and over narrow bridges .