midnight
In all of this there was the sound of angry misery and unsatisfied hate , and the mortified impatience of something accustomed to triumph . Bewitched by this wild , inhuman music the `` travellers ' room '' seemed spellbound for ever , but all at once the door creaked and the potboy , in a new print shirt , came in . Limping on one leg , and blinking his sleepy eyes , he snuffed the candle with his fingers , put some more wood on the fire and went out . At once from the church , which was three hundred paces from the tavern , the clock struck midnight . The wind played with the chimes as with the snowflakes ; chasing the sounds of the clock it whirled them round and round over a vast space , so that some strokes were cut short or drawn out in long , vibrating notes , while others were completely lost in the general uproar . One stroke sounded as distinctly in the room as though it had chimed just under the window . The child , sleeping on the fox-skin , started and raised her head .