midnight
`` And would it not be a lucky chance if we should bring it to pass at the very moment when Rodolph would be writhing under the double misery occasioned by the disclosure of Madame d'Harville 's conduct , and the disappearance of the creature for whom he chooses to evince so deep an interest ? Would not that be an auspicious moment to persuade him that the daughter , whose loss he daily more and more deplores , still lives ? And then -- '' `` Silence , sister , '' interrupted Seyton , `` I hear the steps of the guests from the supper-table , returning to resume the ball . Since you deem it expedient to apprise the Marquis d'Harville of the morrow 's rendezvous , let us depart ; it is past midnight . '' `` The lateness of the hour in which the anonymous information will reach M. d'Harville , will but tend still more to impress him with an idea of its importance . '' And with these words Tom and Sarah quitted the splendid ball of the ambassadress of the court of -- . Determined at all risks to warn Madame d'Harville of the danger she was incurring , Rodolph had quitted the winter garden without waiting to hear the remainder of the conversation between Sarah and her brother , thus remaining ignorant of their designs against Fleur-de-Marie , and of the extreme peril which threatened the poor girl .