midnight
-- -- But she had glided off unperceived , as the cause was pleading , and had made ten or a dozen paces down the street , by the time I had made the determination ; so I set off after her with a long stride , to make her the proposal , with the best address I was master of : but observing she walk 'd with her cheek half resting upon the palm of her hand , -- with the slow short-measur 'd step of thoughtfulness , -- and with her eyes , as she went step by step , fixed upon the ground , it struck me she was trying the same cause herself . -- God help her ! said I , she has some mother-in-law , or tartufish aunt , or nonsensical old woman , to consult upon the occasion , as well as myself : so not caring to interrupt the process , and deeming it more gallant to take her at discretion than by surprise , I faced about and took a short turn or two before the door of the Remise , whilst she walk 'd musing on one side . HAVING , on the first sight of the lady , settled the affair in my fancy `` that she was of the better order of beings ; '' -- and then laid it down as a second axiom , as indisputable as the first , that she was a widow , and wore a character of distress , -- I went no further ; I got ground enough for the situation which pleased me ; -- and had she remained close beside my elbow till midnight , I should have held true to my system , and considered her only under that general idea . She had scarce got twenty paces distant from me , ere something within me called out for a more particular enquiry ; -- it brought on the idea of a further separation : -- I might possibly never see her more : -- The heart is for saving what it can ; and I wanted the traces through which my wishes might find their way to her , in case I should never rejoin her myself ; in a word , I wished to know her name , -- her family 's -- her condition ; and as I knew the place to which she was going , I wanted to know from whence she came : but there was no coming at all this intelligence ; a hundred little delicacies stood in the way . I form 'd a score different plans . -- There was no such thing as a man 's asking her directly ; -- the thing was impossible .