midnight
Gouache did not suspect Giovanni of having concocted the note for any purposes of his own , and quite believed that he had found it as he had stated , but the more the artist tried to explain the existence of the letter , the further he found himself from any satisfactory solution of the question . He interrogated his landlady , but she would say nothing about it , for the temptation of Giovanni 's money sealed her lips . The week passed somehow , unpleasantly enough for most of the persons concerned in this veracious history , but Saturday night came at last , and brought with it a series of events which modified the existing situation . Gouache was on duty at the barracks when orders were received to the effect that the whole available force in Rome was to march soon after midnight . His face brightened when he heard the news , although he realised that in a few hours he was to leave behind him all that he held most dear and to face death in a manner new to him , and by no means pleasant to most men . Between two and three o'clock on Sunday morning Gouache found himself standing in the midst of a corps of fifteen hundred Zouaves , in almost total darkness and under a cold , drizzling November rain . His teeth chattered and his wet hands seemed to freeze to the polished fittings of his rifle , and he had not the slightest doubt that every one of his comrades experienced the same unenviable sensations .