midnight
I made no debts , and I spent three times as much money as when I did not gamble . It was impossible to resist an existence which gave me an easy means of satisfying the thousand caprices of Marguerite . As for her , she continued to love me as much , or even more than ever . As I told you , I began by being allowed to stay only from midnight to six o'clock , then I was asked sometimes to a box in the theatre , then she sometimes came to dine with me . One morning I did not go till eight , and there came a day when I did not go till twelve . But , sooner than the moral metamorphosis , a physical metamorphosis came about in Marguerite . I had taken her cure in hand , and the poor girl , seeing my aim , obeyed me in order to prove her gratitude .