midnight
It had become perfectly dark in her rooms , and the solitude and silence there oppressed her like a hundredweight burden . Besides , terrible thoughts had assailed her , showing her herself in want and shame , despised , disdained , begging for a morsel of bread , and her father under his fallen horse , on his lonely , couch of pain , in his coffin . Then her stay in her lonely rooms seemed unendurable . She would have lost her reason ere Quijada came at midnight to conduct her for a short time to the Golden Cross . She could not remain long with her lover , because the servants were obliged to be up early in the morning on account of the regent 's departure . With Ursel she would be protected from the terrors of solitude , for , besides the old woman 's voice , a man 's tones also reached her through the open window . It was probably the companion of her childhood .