about midnight
She drove about from place to place in the hot , slatternly city , putting more than her usual vigour and directness into all she did . It seemed to her that the sunlight burning on the tiles , pouring through the crowded streets , had more than ever a vivid note ; and so much spoke to her , came to her , from the profuse and ingenuous life which streamed about her , that she leaned a little forward to meet it with happy eyes and tender lips that said , `` I know . I see . '' She was living for the moment which should exhale itself somewhere about midnight , after the lights had gone out on her last appearance , living for it as a Carmelite might live for the climax of her veil and her vows if it were conceivable that beyond the cell and the grating she saw the movement and the colour and the passion of a wider life . All Hilda 's splendid vitality went into her intention , of which she was altogether mistress , riding it and reining it in a straight course through the encumbered hours . It keyed her to a finer and more eager susceptibility ; and the things she saw stayed with her , passing into a composite day which the years were hardly to dim for her . She could live like that , for the purposes of a period , wrought up to immense keenness of sense and brilliancy of energy , making steadily for some point of feeling or achievement flashing gloriously on the horizon .