the indiscreet hours after midnight
A very pale and dispirited Harmony it was who bathed her eyes in cold water that evening and obeyed little Olga 's `` Bitte sum speisen . '' The chairs round the dining-table were only half occupied -- a free concert had taken some , Sunday excursions others . The little Bulgarian , secretly considered to be a political spy , was never about on this one evening of the week . Rumor had it that on these evenings , secreted in an attic room far off in the sixteenth district , he wrote and sent off reports of what he had learned during the week -- his gleanings from near-by tables in coffee-houses or from the indiscreet hours after midnight in the cafe , where the Austrian military was wont to gather and drink . Into the empty chair beside Harmony Peter slid his long figure , and met a tremulous bow and silence . From the head of the table Frau Schwarz was talking volubly -- as if , by mere sound , to distract attention from the scantiness of the meal . Under cover of the Babel Peter spoke to the girl .