About midnight
Alma thought him offensively familiar , but he did not inflict himself upon her for long . When the hostess began to go hither and thither , she pounced eagerly on Mrs. Rolfe , and soon made her the centre of a group . Alma began to taste the old delight of homage , though she perceived that her new acquaintances were not of the world in which she had formerly shone . About midnight , when she was a little tired of the crush , and thought of going , there fell upon her ear a voice which startled and aroused her like an unexpected grasp . On the instant she saw an open place in Munich ; the next , a lake and mountains . ` I was n't in town then . I got out of sorts , and ran away to a little place I have on the Lake of Garda . '