midnight
-LSB- Sidenote : Conversation and description . -RSB- The one point of what we may call the `` furniture '' of novels , in which she seems to me to have , occasionally at least , touched supremacy , is conversation . It has been observed by those capable of making the induction that , close as drama and novel are in some ways , the distinction between dramatic and non-dramatic talk is , though narrow , deeper than the very deepest Alpine crevasse from Dauphiné to Carinthia . Such specimens as those already more than once dwelt on -- Consuelo 's and Anzoleto 's debate about her looks , and that of Germain and Marie in the midnight wood by the Devil 's Mere -- are first-rate , and there is no more to say . Some of her descriptions , again , such as the opening of the book last quoted -LRB- the wide , treeless , communal plain with its various labouring teams -RRB- , or as some of the Lake touches in _ Lucrezia Floriani _ , or as the relieving patches in the otherwise monotonous grumble of _ Un Hiver à Majorque _ , are unsurpassable . Nor is this gift limited to mere _ paysage _ . The famous account of Chopin 's playing already mentioned for praise is only first among many .