twelve
o'clock before
I had spent those dreadful hours in feverish restlessness : my room seemed suffocating to me . I had walked about , had put away my trinkets , I had changed my dress , and put on a white one which I had worn in the morning , and had tried to braid my hair . The quieting of the house , it seemed , would never come . It was twelve o'clock before any one came up-stairs . I heard one door after another shut , and then sat waiting and wondering why Richard did not come , till the moments seemed to grow to centuries . At last I heard him at the door , and I went toward it trembling , and followed him into the hall . He carried a light , for up-stairs it was all dark , and when we reached the stairway , he took my hand to lead me .