midnight
I wanted to take her up from that cold couch -- to carry her to some home where there should be light and heat and laughter -- to warm her to life again within my arms ; and as my brain played with these foolish fancies , slow hot tears forced themselves into my eyes and scalded my cheeks as they fell . These tears relieved me -- gradually the tightly strung tension of my nerves relaxed , and I recovered my usual composure by degrees . Turning deliberately away from the beckoning grave-stones , I walked back to the city through the thick of the storm , this time with an assured step and a knowledge of where I was going . I did not reach my hotel till past midnight , but this was not late for Naples , and the curiosity of the fat French hall-porter was not so much excited by the lateness of my arrival as by the disorder of my apparel . `` Ah , Heaven ! '' he cried ; `` that monsieur the distinguished should have been in such a storm all unprotected ! Why did not monsieur send for his carriage ? ''