midnight
To myself , the former would be as nothing in comparison . I could face any amount of peril in preference to the risk of a public mark of depreciation , and from a woman , too ! where redress was as impossible as reply was useless . It was already midnight ere I could muster courage to set out , -- not that the hour was inappropriate , for the Marchesa 's receptions only began when the opera was over . As I drove along the Chiaia , the crowd of carriages told that this was a night of more than ordinary attraction , and more than one equipage of the Court passed by , showing that some members of the royal family would be present . This again terrified me . Was royalty to be among the witnesses of my shame ?