midnight
It was only a foolish curiosity-bitten _ shudra _ ; a wretched member of the lowest and most servile class , who , passing on his way to his miserable hovel , had noticed the gate open at the untoward hour of midnight , and the absence of the ferocious _ durwans _ . His low caste , which is the least of all , had prevented him , up to this day , from entering what he thought must surely be paradise ; and now he took the risk and slipped in , not only stricken with curiosity , but obsessed with a desire to tell a wonderful tale to his patient wife and four sons , who , because they were _ his _ sons , were doomed to remain of the lowest servile caste ; as would be their sons far , oh ! far beyond the third and fourth generation . How was he to know that a woman with unveiled face was visiting the tomb at midnight , or that she was beloved by his master whose word was life , or death , to those who served him . Leonie passed through the silver gates into the tomb , and stood beside the marble , flower-strewn sarcophagi , which lie side by side , and over which , day and night , hangs a lighted lamp . She did not move when a whispered golden sound fell gently through the shadows . Like a cobweb thread , so fine it was ; like a thread of gold , so sweet it was ; rising and falling , to rise again in one throbbing cry of love , pleading , insisting , despairing .