midnight
Such was not the case , for no other sound came from the room , nor were Alonzo 's prayers uttered that night , though the unhappy statesman in the next apartment could not get to sleep for several hours on account of his nervous expectancy of them . After this , as the day approached upon which hung the fate of the bill which Mr. Josephus Battle was fighting , Mrs. Protheroe came to the Senate Chamber nearly every morning and afternoon . Not once did she appear to be conscious of Alonzo Rawson 's presence , nor once did he allow his eyes to delay upon her , though it can not be truthfully said that he did not always know when she came , when she left , and with whom she stood or sat or talked . He evaded all mention or discussion of the bill or of Mrs. Protheroe ; avoided Truslow -LRB- who , strangely enough , was avoiding _ him _ -RRB- and , spending upon drains and dikes all the energy that he could manage to concentrate , burned the midnight oil and rubbed salt into his wounds to such marked effect that by the evening of the Governor 's Reception -- upon the morning following which the mooted bill was to come up -- he offered an impression so haggard and worn that an actor might have studied him for a makeup as a young statesman going into a decline . Nevertheless , he dressed with great care and bitterness , and placed the fragrant blossom of a geranium -- taken from a plant belonging to his landlady -- in the lapel of his long coat before he set out . And yet , when he came down the Governor 's broad stairs , and wandered through the big rooms , with the glare of lights above him and the shouting of the guests ringing in his ears , a sense of emptiness beset him ; the crowded place seemed vacant and without meaning . Even the noise sounded hollow and remote -- and why had he bothered about the geranium ?