midnight
cried Athenais , naively . `` Ah , little girl , you know nothing of the precipices down which our virtue flings us when led by love , '' replied Sabine , making a sort of moral revelation , so distraught was she by her woe . The speech was uttered with such incisive bitterness that the duchess , enlightened by the tone and accent and look of her daughter , felt certain there was some hidden trouble . `` My dears , it is midnight ; come , go to bed , '' she said to Clotilde and Athenais , whose eyes were shining . `` In spite of my thirty-five years I appear to be _ de trop _ , '' said Clotilde , laughing . While Athenais kissed her mother , Clotilde leaned over Sabine and said in her ear : `` You will tell what it is ? I 'll dine with you to-morrow .