midnight
Then Hamil 's luggage arrived , and he went away to inspect his quarters , prepare for luncheon , and exchange his attire for forest dress . For he meant to lose no time in the waste corners of the earth when Gotham town might any day suddenly bloom like Eden with the one young blossom that he loved . There was not much for him in Eden now -- little enough except to be in her vicinity , near her at times , at intervals with her long enough to exchange a word or two under the smooth mask of convention which leaves even the eyes brightly expressionless . Never again to touch her hand save under the formal laws sanctioned by usage ; never again to wake with the intimate fragrance of her memory on his lips ; never again to wait for the scented dusk to give them to each other -- to hear her frail gown 's rustle on the terrace , her footfall in the midnight corridor , her far , sweet hail to him from the surf , her soft laughter under the roses on the moon-lit balcony . That -- all of it -- was forever ended . But he believed that the pallid northern phantom of the past was still left to him ; supposed that now , at least , they might miserably consider themselves beyond peril . But what man supposes of woman is vain imagining ; and in that shadowy neutral ground which lies between martyrdom and sin no maid dwells for very long before she crosses one frontier or the other .