midnight
By the next evening at latest he would see her again . As he lay looking up through the tangle of copper leaves at the sky beyond , his mind drifted like the clouds above him , and he was back once more in the jutting window in the Rue St. Martin , sitting on the broad _ bancal _ , with its Spanish leather covering , with the gilt wool-bale creaking outside , and his arm round shrinking , timid Adele , she who had compared herself to a little mouse in an old house , and who yet had courage to stay by his side through all this wild journey . And then again he was back at Versailles . Once more he saw the brown eyes of the king , the fair bold face of De Montespan , the serene features of De Maintenon -- once more he rode on his midnight mission , was driven by the demon coachman , and sprang with Amos upon the scaffold to rescue the most beautiful woman in France . So clear it was and so vivid that it was with a start that he came suddenly to himself , and found that the night was creeping on in an American forest , and that Du Lhut had roused himself and was ready for a start . `` Have you been awake ? '' asked the pioneer .