midnight
She lowered her skirts while I followed and then I helped her into the domino , rejoicing in the silken caress of her hair on my hands as I arranged the hood , a pleasant piece of officiousness for which I got thanks I did not deserve , and off we started . Again she asked nothing as to what we were going to do and whither we were bound . The blazing windows of a comfortable inn might have been in sight for aught she cared to all outward seeming . Yet here she was , close on midnight , in bitterly cold weather , stepping out into rough and unknown country in company with a man she had only known a few hours . I went ahead and thought it over . For ten minutes we picked our way in the deep shadow along the foot of the wall , _ per opaca locorum _ , as the great weaver of words puts it , and then I turned outwards into the open field and the clear moonlight . Of her own accord she placed her arm in mine , and we stepped it out bravely together .