midnight
It was their tete-a-tete . Instinctively they felt each other 's presence , felt each other 's thought coming to them through the thin partition . It was charming ; they were perfectly happy . There in the stillness that settled over the flat in the half hour after midnight the two old people `` kept company , '' enjoying after their fashion their little romance that had come so late into the lives of each . On the way to her room in the garret Maria Macapa paused under the single gas-jet that burned at the top of the well of the staircase ; she assured herself that she was alone , and then drew from her pocket one of McTeague 's `` tapes '' of non-cohesive gold . It was the most valuable steal she had ever yet made in the dentist 's `` Parlors . '' She told herself that it was worth at least a couple of dollars .