midnight
`` My mistress , '' I exclaimed , `` and I your slave ! '' `` Not another word of slavery , cruelty , or the whip , '' interrupted Wanda . `` I shall not grant you any of those favors , none except wearing my fur-jacket ; come and help me into it . '' * * * * * The little bronze clock on which stood a cupid who had just shot his bolt struck midnight . I rose , and wanted to leave . Wanda said nothing , but embraced me and drew me back on the ottoman . She began to kiss me anew , and this silent language was so comprehensible , so convincing -- And it told me more than I dared to understand .