midnight
You will be ready ? '' `` Yes , '' she said , `` I will come ; '' but she did not look at him , as she spoke , only she caught the triumphant gleam of his eyes ; a thousand weird lights seemed to whirl around her , and she felt herself sinking . It seemed , for a moment , as if a slave in a gray tunic was supporting her , and then all consciousness fled . It was an hour past midnight , when Marcia first knew the agony of returning reason . The gong in the Forum had just struck . Where was she ? Surely in her own apartment !