midnight
She was moody . In the bright moonlight on the crystal beach at Causeway Bay he tried to make her dance with him . But she pushed his arms away , and Peter , suddenly feeling the weight of some dark influence , he knew not what , fell silent , and they rode back to the base of the peak road having very little to say . At a few minutes past midnight they alighted from sedan chairs in the hairpin trail beside the incline railway station at the peak , and as they faced each other , the moon , white and gaunt , slipped from sight behind a billowing black cloud , and the heavens were black and the night was dark around them . She took his arm , leading him past the murky walls of the old fort , and on up and up the sloping , rocky road , dimly revealed at intervals by points of mysterious light . They came at length to a high , black hedge , and , groping cautiously along this for a number of yards , found a ragged cleft . He held the branches aside while she climbed through with a faint rustle of silken underskirts .