midnight
What time was it ? I had no idea . We had walked for hours , a long , long time , and so slowly . Perhaps it was midnight or one o'clock . The sky was still a somber blue , without moon , and with but few stars , and the few that had appeared seemed to me to be smaller than usual . The wind had increased ; the snow beat in our faces ; the houses that we passed were closed for the night . It seemed to me that if the people who slept there , warmly beneath the sheets , knew how cold we were outside , they would have opened their doors to us .