midnight
Yet it was a big game he was playing that evening . He went out towards eleven o'clock , wandered about some time , took a cab , and had it drawn up in the Place de la Concorde , by the Ministry of Marine . From time to time he struck a match to see the time by his watch . When he saw midnight approaching , his impatience became feverish . Every moment he thrust his head out of the window to look . A distant clock struck twelve , then another nearer , then two together , then a last one , very far away . When the latter had ceased to sound , he thought : `` It is all over .