half
past twelve
I know not . I know I lay calmly and quietly , certain only that it was well she was to die , certain that , if this failed , she must die in another way before night came again , pitying neither her nor myself in the apathy which held me , believing myself only the instrument of some mighty power which was directing me , and against whose will I could not rebel , if I wished . For some time I could hear my betrothed moving about in her room ; then all was quiet , and she had doubtless lain down to sleep . By the moonlight that filled my room I consulted my watch after a little while , feeling that I had lost all sense of time , and found that it was half past twelve , and that we had been upstairs over an hour . I concluded it would hardly be safe to open the door yet ; she might not be asleep . For another half hour I lay patiently waiting . My mind was not excited , and I reviewed rather the trifling events of my few hours in the city than what had transpired since .