midnight
This I did readily , for thus I thought I should , in the most beautiful manner , be freed from a useless torment . The countess would not have been what she really was had she not let a lover pine a long time in vain , -- and this course she pursued with me . At last , however , my passion was to be requited . At midnight a confidential servant waited for me at the back door of the palace , and led me through distant passages into an apartment which the god of love seemed to have decorated . There I was to expect the countess . Half overcome by the fumes of the fine scents that wound through the chamber , trembling with love and expectation , I stood in the midst of the room . All at once a glance darted through my soul like a flash of lightning -- '' `` How ! ''