midnight
`` Come this way , '' said the nurse , `` and sit a moment ; do you feel a little dizzy ? '' `` A little , '' she answered , and her voice seemed to come from far away ; `` I am afraid that drink was stronger than it should have been ... if I could sit down ... the doctor ... '' She knew that the nurse was helping her to a couch in a tiny room she had never been in before ; she knew that she sank upon it and that the nurse settled her upon a bright crimson cushion ; she heard her soothing murmur and nodded to show that she was not alarmed , only vexed at her own weakness , and then she ceased to struggle with the overwhelming drowsiness that oppressed her , and slept . When she woke it was dark in the room . In the street the electric lights glowed , and the people passed steadily by the window ; was it midnight , she wondered , or only early dusk ? How strange that the doctor and the nurse had forgotten her ! `` But , of course he would not have wished me waked , '' she said , and rose , straightened her dress , waited a moment , and then pulled impatiently at an old-fashioned bell-rope that hung by the door . There was no answer .