midnight
`` Delay not -- it grows late , and we may be interrupted . '' `` We may indeed , '' murmured Giulia , darting a rapid look at the water-clock . `` It is within a few minutes of midnight . '' She might have added -- `` And at midnight I expect a brief visit from Manuel d'Orsini , ere the return of my husband from a banquet at a friend 's villa . '' But of course this was her secret ; and anxious to rid herself of the company of Stephano , she took the tablets with trembling hands and prepared to write . `` I , Giulia , Countess of Arestino , '' began the brigand , dictating to her , `` confess myself to owe Stephano Verrina a deep debt of gratitude for his kindness in recovering my diamonds from the possession of the Jew Isaachar , to whom they were pledged for a sum which I could not pay . '' `` But wherefore this document ? ''