midnight
It was absurd after all , this hurly-burly of men and women . Then she began to wonder when Paul would return . The day seemed very long ; in the evening she walked in Rittenhouse Square and watched Trinity Church until its brown façade faded in the dusk . She expected Paul back at midnight , and sat up reading . She did n't love him , she told herself , but felt lonely and wished he would come . To be sure , she recalled with her morbidly keen memory that Howells had said : `` There is no happy life for woman -- the advantage that the world offers her is her choice in self-sacrifice . '' At two hours past the usual time , she went to bed and slept uneasily until dawn , when she reached out her hand and awoke with a start ... .