eleven o'clock
After this ball , the past winter had been spent in waiting to see him again , but he had not even come to say good-bye before his departure for Iceland . Since he was no longer by , nothing else existed in her eyes ; slowly time seemed to drag until the return in autumn , when she had made up her mind to put an end to her doubts . The town-hall clock struck eleven , with that peculiar resonance that bells have during the quiet spring nights . At Paimpol eleven o'clock is very late ; so Gaud closed her window and lit her lamp , to go to bed . Perhaps it was only shyness in Yann , after all , or was it because , being proud also , he was afraid of a refusal , as she was so rich ? She wanted to ask him this herself straightforwardly , but Sylvestre thought that it would not be the right thing , and it would not look well for her to appear so bold . In Paimpol already her manners and dress were sufficiently criticised .