midnight
The wan pale light spread over the wide stretch of country , throwing over it as it spread dull tones of indigo and of blue . Here and there sparse , stunted trees with fringed gaunt arms bending to prevailing winds proclaimed the neighbourhood of the sea . Marguerite gazed on the picture which the waning moon had so suddenly revealed ; but she gazed with eyes that knew not what they saw . The moon had risen on her right -- there lay the east -- and the coach must have been travelling due north , whereas Crecy ... In the absolute silence that reigned she could perceive from far , very far away , the sound of a church clock striking the midnight hour ; and now it seemed to her supersensitive senses that a firm footstep was treading the soft earth , a footstep that drew nearer -- and then nearer still . Nature did pause to listen . The wind was hushed , the night-birds in the forest had gone to rest . Marguerite 's heart beat so fast that its throbbings choked her , and a dizziness clouded her consciousness .