midnight
Did he really connive at your romantic passion for his wife ? If I may venture to offer an opinion , that part of the story is not quite so well thought out as the rest , though it is excessively modern . Anyhow he is dead . You tell me he saw you behind the screen in his wife 's rooms at midnight , and felt no need of an explanation . How like an Italian . But he is dead . And you forced your love on another man 's wife , though you own she did not return it , wormed yourself into her rooms at night , and then -- _ then _ -- yes , I begin to see a grain of truth among these heaps of lies -- then when by an evil chance , an extraordinary stroke of bad luck , there was danger of your being discovered , then you persuaded her , the innocent , inexperienced creature whom you would have wronged if you could -- you worked upon her feelings , you made her into your accomplice , you persuaded her to hide you ... .