midnight
At all events , if the king did not come ; if , however , the king did not write , he could not do otherwise than send Saint-Aignan , or Saint-Aignan could not do otherwise than come of his own accord . Even if it were a third person , how openly she would speak to him ; the royal presence would not be there to freeze her words upon her tongue , and then no suspicious feeling would remain a moment longer in the king 's heart . Everything with La Valliere , heart and look , body and mind , was concentrated in eager expectation . She said to herself that there was an hour left in which to indulge hope ; that until midnight had struck , the king might come , or write , or send ; that at midnight only would every expectation be useless , every hope lost . Whenever there was any noise in the palace , the poor girl fancied she was the cause of it ; whenever she heard any one pass in the courtyard below , she imagined they were messengers of the king coming to her . Eleven o'clock struck ; then a quarter past eleven : then half-past . The minutes dragged slowly on in this anxiety , and yet they seemed to pass far too quickly .