midnight
Murder , suicide , poison , dagger , lightning even decimated their ranks , and when the curtain dropped there was not a soul of them left alive . The crowning effect of this parody was the appearance of the prompter himself before the footlights . In a few tear-choked words he informed the audience that after seeing the actors all die , and nothing but corpses around him , he could and would not survive , and so he made an end of himself , too , using a rope for the purpose . The humor of the whole audience after that grew rapidly boisterous , and by midnight the tone of this carnival fête given by officers and their ladies could scarcely be distinguished from that rampant at a village kermess . If anything , it was a trifle more unconventional . Lieutenant Kolberg had in the meantime found a cosy arbor into which to retire with Frau Captain Kahle , and more effectually to exclude intruders had placed a tall screen before the entrance . A little `` flirtation , '' more or less serious , was something he could not do without , and since the garrison with its staid citizens and their staider wives and daughters did not furnish the material required for him , he had made up his mind to lay violent siege to the heart of the lady .