an hour after midnight
`` Well , well , '' said de Valricour , `` I will question you no more , though how you ever came in here and she got out is a mystery to me . But I have other matters to see to , so farewell for the present . '' Two little scenes that had taken place within the walls of the fort on the preceding night accounted for the mystery . The clock had not long struck an hour after midnight , when one of the soldiers , who had just been relieved , entered the guard-room well-nigh covered with snow from head to foot , and looking as pale as death . `` You found it cold enough out there to-night , comrade , '' said one of the men , roused by his entrance ; `` if it goes on like this we must get half-hour reliefs again , or some of us will be found frozen to death on guard , like poor Jean Maret was last year . '' `` Cold ! '' ejaculated the sentry , `` I do n't care for cold , and I would as soon die of frost as see again what I 've seen to-night . ''