midnight
When Emile entered he was greeted by several of the men who sat in groups of two and three at little tables , busy with Monte and other card games . The smoke of many cigarettes obscured their figures , and clouded the mirrors with which the place was lined from floor to ceiling . Emile sat down alone and ordered an _ absinthe _ . When called upon to join in the play , he refused with a scowl and a rasping oath in his native tongue , and as the evening grew on towards midnight he was left to himself and his meditations . His thoughts were still with Arithelli , the weird witch-girl , whose eyes were like those of Swinburne 's fair woman , `` Coloured like a water-flower , And deeper than the green sea 's glass . '' He , who now never opened a book , had once known that most un-English of all poets by heart . In her many phases Arithelli passed before him , as he stared moodily at the shifting opal-coloured liquid in his glass .