Midnight, midnight
Eleven o'clock struck ; then a quarter past eleven : then half-past . The minutes dragged slowly on in this anxiety , and yet they seemed to pass far too quickly . And now , it struck a quarter to twelve . Midnight , midnight was near , the last , the final hope which remained , came in its turn . With the last stroke of the clock , the last ray of light seemed to fade away ; and with the last ray , so faded her final hope . And so , the king himself had deceived her ; it was he who had been the first to fail in keeping the oath which he had sworn that very day ; twelve hours only between his oath and his perjured vow ; it was not long , certainly , to have preserved the illusion . And so , not only did the king not love her , but still more , he despised her whom every one overwhelmed ; he despised her to the extent even of abandoning her to the shame of an expulsion which was equivalent to having an ignominious sentence passed upon her ; and yet , it was he , the king himself , who was the first cause of this ignominy .