midnight
So compose yourself ; do not exaggerate your misfortune . A priest whose hair has grown white in the exercise of his functions is not a boy ; you will be understood by him to whom every passion has been confided for nearly fifty years now , and who weighs in his hands the ponderous heart of kings and princes . If he is stern under his stole , in the presence of your flowers he will be as tender as they are , and as indulgent as his Divine Master . ' `` I left the Countess at midnight ; she was apparently calm , but depressed , and had some secret purpose which no perspicacity could guess . I found the Count a few paces off , in the Rue Saint-Maur . Drawn by an irresistible attraction , he had quitted the spot on the Boulevards where we had agreed to meet . ``` What a night my poor child will go through ! '