midnight
Catherine sometimes started at the boldness of her own surmises , and sometimes hoped or feared that she had gone too far ; but they were supported by such appearances as made their dismissal impossible . The side of the quadrangle , in which she supposed the guilty scene to be acting , being , according to her belief , just opposite her own , it struck her that , if judiciously watched , some rays of light from the general 's lamp might glimmer through the lower windows , as he passed to the prison of his wife ; and , twice before she stepped into bed , she stole gently from her room to the corresponding window in the gallery , to see if it appeared ; but all abroad was dark , and it must yet be too early . The various ascending noises convinced her that the servants must still be up . Till midnight , she supposed it would be in vain to watch ; but then , when the clock had struck twelve , and all was quiet , she would , if not quite appalled by darkness , steal out and look once more . The clock struck twelve -- and Catherine had been half an hour asleep . The next day afforded no opportunity for the proposed examination of the mysterious apartments . It was Sunday , and the whole time between morning and afternoon service was required by the general in exercise abroad or eating cold meat at home ; and great as was Catherine 's curiosity , her courage was not equal to a wish of exploring them after dinner , either by the fading light of the sky between six and seven o'clock , or by the yet more partial though stronger illumination of a treacherous lamp .