midnight
And yet Paula had never shown him such hearty warmth of manner , never had she spoken to him in a voice so soft and so full of feeling , as this evening in the garden . More cheerful and talkative than usual , she had constantly turned to address him , while he had felt his pain and torment of mind gradually eased , till in him too , sentiment had blossomed anew , and his intellectual power had expanded . Never -- so he believed -- had he expressed his thoughts better or more brilliantly than in that hour . Nor had she withheld her approval ; she had heartily agreed with his views ; and when , half an hour before midnight , he had gone with her to visit his patients , rapturous hopes had sprung once more in his breast . Ecstatically happy , like a man intoxicated , he had , by her own desire , accompanied her into her sitting - room , and then -- and there ... . Poor , disappointed man , sitting on the divan in a dark corner of the spacious room ! In his soul hitherto the intellect had alone made itself heard , the voice of the heart had never been listened to .