midnight
Now she was laying large strokes of blue crayon on the pastel , bringing out its flaming splendor in strong relief on the background of a clear summer night . But two days later , in consequence of a fresh discussion , matters went still further amiss . In the evening , on leaving the table , Pascal went up to the study to write , while she remained out of doors , sitting on the terrace . Hours passed by , and he was surprised and uneasy , when midnight struck , that he had not yet heard her return to her room . She would have had to pass through the study , and he was very certain that she had not passed unnoticed by him . Going downstairs , he found that Martine was asleep ; the vestibule door was not locked , and Clotilde must have remained outside , oblivious of the flight of time . This often happened to her on these warm nights , but she had never before remained out so late .