midnight
Mme. Cornu often heard her walking up and down the floor , tapping her ebony stick and talking softly to herself . Yet she was as sane as any old body living in solitude with evil thinking well can be . She starved-because she neither gave nor _ asked _ . As Mother thought of her , thus finding the way in instantly , the church clock sounded midnight . She entered a room that was black as coal and unsweetened as an airless cellar . The fair rays that had been pouring out of her returned with a little shock upon themselves -- repulsed . She felt herself reduced , and the sensation was so unpleasant at first that she almost gasped .