midnight
In truth , that little episode showed an image of nature weak with the burden of new love . I do not charge the young cavalry officer with the power of perceiving images . He saw no more than that she could not sing because of what was in her heart toward him ; but such a physical revelation was a divine love-confession , coming involuntarily from one whose lips had not formed the name of love ; and Wilfrid felt it so deeply , that the exquisite flattery was almost lost , in a certain awed sense of his being in the presence of an absolute fact : a thing real , though it was much talked about , and visible , though it did not wear a hat or a petticoat . It searched him thoroughly enough to keep him from any further pledges in that direction , propitious as the moment was , while the moon slipped over banks of marble into fields of blue , and all the midnight promised silence . They passed quickly through the laurel shrubs , and round the lawn . Lights were in the sleepless ladies ' bed-room windows . `` Do I love her ? ''