midnight
What unreliable guides , and what feeble supports ! Listen to a sad story : Yesterday , thanks to Madame de Malouet , I remained alone at the chateau the whole day and the whole evening . I was therefore as much at peace as it was possible for me to be . Toward midnight I heard the carriages returning , and soon after all noise ceased . It was , I think , about three o'clock in the morning when I was aroused from the species of torpor that has stood me in lieu of sleep for the past few nights , by the sound quite close to me , of a door cautiously opened or closed in the yard . I know not by what strange and sudden connection of ideas so simple an incident attracted my attention and disturbed my mind . I left abruptly the arm-chair in which I had been slumbering , and I went up to a window .