midnight
In the _ scenic _ episodes , the colloquies that Strether holds , for example , with his sympathetic friend Maria Gostrey , another turn appears in the author 's procedure . Throughout these clear-cut dialogues Strether 's point of view still reigns ; the only eyes in the matter are still his , there is no sight of the man himself as his companion sees him . Miss Gostrey is clearly visible , and Madame de Vionnet and little Bilham , or whoever it may be ; the face of Strether himself is never turned to the reader . On the evening of the first encounter between the elderly ambassador and the young man , they sat together in a café of the boulevards and walked away at midnight through quiet streets ; and all through their interview the fact of the young man 's appearance is strongly dominant , for it is this that first reveals to Strether how the young man has been transformed by his commerce with the free world ; and so his figure is sharply before the reader as they talk . How Strether seemed to Chad -- this , too , is represented , but only by implication , through Chad 's speech and manner . It is essential , of course , that it should be so , the one-sided vision is strictly enjoined by the method of the whole book . But though the seeing eye is still with Strether , there is a noticeable change in the author 's way with him .