midnight
When her mother died , some months before Leon 's departure , she did not wish to have any one share with her the sad satisfaction of watching and praying in the death-chamber . `` This will teach us , '' said the aunt , `` how to stay up after ten o'clock . What ! It is midnight , all to quarter of an hour ! Come , my child ; you will get better fast enough after you get to bed . '' Clementine arose submissively , but at the moment of leaving the laboratory she retraced her steps , and with a caprice more inexplicable than her grief , she absolutely wished to see the mummy of the colonel again . Her aunt scolded in vain ; in spite of the remarks of Mlle. Sambucco and all the persons present , she reopened the walnut box , kneeled down beside the mummy and kissed it on the forehead .