midnight
All they had to do was to wait . They set themselves to watch , then , going back and forth on tiptoe between the study and the bedroom , waiting for the moment when the young woman 's large motionless eyes should close in sleep . One of them would go to see , while the other waited impatiently in the study , where a lamp burned dully on the table . This was repeated every fifteen minutes until midnight . The fathomless eyes , full of gloom and of an immense despair , did not close . A little before midnight Felicite installed herself in an armchair at the foot of the bed , resolved not to leave the spot until her granddaughter should have fallen asleep . From this forth she did not take her eyes off Clotilde , and it filled her with a sort of fear to remark that the girl scarcely moved her eyelids , looking with that inconsolable fixity which defies sleep .