midnight
`` Why be in such a hurry ? We shall always arrive in time at what we want to , provided you do not halt on the way . I will return tomorrow . '' And she returned thus every evening for a week , to go away in the same way when midnight struck . This delay did not annoy Rodolphe very much . In matters of love , and even of mere fancy , he was one of that school of travelers who prolong their journey and render it picturesque . The little sentimental preface had for its result to lead on Rodolphe at the outset further than he meant to go .