Twelve o'clock
Three-quarters struck . Perhaps she had been detected ; perhaps she was ill ; perhaps -- but this was his mother 's suggestion , and took little hold of him -- there had been visitors who had stayed later than usual , and Lieschen , finding the night so advanced , had postponed her visit to the morrow . Franz , who interpreted Lieschen 's feelings by his own , was assured that no postponement of a voluntary kind was credible of her . Twelve o'clock struck . Again Franz went out into the road , and walked nearly up to the archway ; he returned with heavy sadness and foreboding at his heart , reluctantly admitting that now all hope of seeing her that night was over . That night ? Poor sorrowing heart , the night was to be eternal !