Midnight
`` We will talk it over again to morrow , Jeanne . Do not decide yet . '' `` I have thought it over , and I have made up my mind . '' Midnight sounded from the great tower of the Halles . High up in the clouds rang out the long solemn melancholy song of the innumerable bells . Noemi , who had intended to have her own way , was silent , her heart full of despondency . It was as if those melancholy voices from the darkening sky were proclaiming her friend 's destiny ; a destiny of love and suffering , which must be accomplished .