midnight
And with this intellectual conscience he was no more capable of trifling than with the moral conscience . The night passed away . How the rare intermittent sounds impressed themselves upon him ! -- the stir of the child 's waking soon after midnight in the room overhead ; the cry of the owls in the oak-wood ; the purring of the night-jars on the common ; the morning chatter of the swallows round the eaves . With the first invasion of the dawn Robert raised himself and looked at Catherine . She was sleeping with that light sound sleep which belongs to health of body and mind , one hand under her face , the other stretched out in soft relaxation beside her . Her husband hung over her in a bewilderment of feeling .