midnight
Do you suppose that I would submit to his remaining where he is one instant longer than is absolutely necessary ? '' No reply to this declaration was needed or expected . Maurice returned to Madeleine 's house with a sense of thankfulness that the count 's seizure had taken place where it did . Gaston and the housekeeper were the watchers beside the count that night , taking the places of Madeleine and Maurice at midnight , -- this exchange having now become the established rule for alternate nights . In spite of the iron-like constitution , and iron-like character of the countess , -- in spite of her valiant , her desperate struggles , -- her strength began to fail under the pressure of her hidden sorrow . She was unwilling to admit that she was subject to bodily any more than to mental infirmities . She belonged to that rare class described by the poet when he speaks of one who `` Scarce confesses That his blood flows , or that his appetite Is more to bread than stone . ''