eight o’clock
The motion of her head as she looked towards the Indre , the punt , the meadows , showed me that in my absence she had come to many an understanding with those misty horizons and their vaporous outline . Nature was a mantle which sheltered her thoughts . She now knew what the nightingale was sighing the livelong night , what the songster of the sedges hymned with his plaintive note . At eight o'clock that evening I was witness of a scene which touched me deeply , and which I had never yet witnessed , for in my former visits I had played backgammon with the count while his wife took the children into the dining-room before their bedtime . The bell rang twice , and all the servants of the household entered the room . `` You are now our guest and must submit to convent rule , '' said the countess , leading me by the hand with that air of innocent gaiety which distinguishes women who are naturally pious . The count followed .