midnight
Rickman carried into this adventure a sort of innocence that renewed itself , as by a miracle , every evening . His youth remained virgin because of its incorruptible hope . He almost disarmed criticism by the gaiety , the naïveté of the pursuit . She was always in front of him , that young Joy ; but if he did not overtake her by midnight , he was all the more sure that he would find her in the morning , with the dew on her feet and the dawn on her forehead . He was convinced that it was that sweet mystic mouth of hers which would one day tell him the secret of the world . And long before the morning she would pick up her skirts and be off again , swifter than ever , carrying her secret with her . And so the chase went on .