seven in the
morning
Mederic advanced now on tiptoe , as if he were afraid to make a noise , apprehended some danger , and he glanced towards the spot uneasily . What was this ? No doubt , she was asleep . Then , he reflected that a person does not go to sleep thus naked , at half-past seven in the morning under cool trees . So then she must be dead ; and he must be face to face with a crime . At this thought , a cold shiver ran through his frame , although he was an old soldier . And then a murder was such a rare thing in the country , and above all the murder of a child , that he could not believe his eyes .