nearly midnight
Herr Linke was moving with discretion , for it was probable that if such a creature had strolled through the Carsija , there would be a dozen idlers who would have observed and noted the fact . Renwick 's chief hopes were crumbling . And yet , if Linke suspected that the note which had been sent to the Hotel Europa was a bait , he would of course act with great caution . It was nearly midnight when , weary and disappointed , Renwick returned from the Kastele quarter in the direction of the Carsija . The houses were dark save for a glimmer of light in an upper window here and there , but the moon had come out , and Renwick , moving silently along in the shadow of walls and houses , gazed about him with the eagerness of despair . For a while he stopped in the angle of a wall , and listened to the sounds of the city below him , the rush of the river below the Bastion , the motor and bell of the electric tram-car , the whistle of a freight locomotive at the further end of the town -- strident noises brought from the West to break the drowsy murmur of the Orient , but not a sight nor a sound which could give him a clew as to the whereabouts of Linke or Countess Marishka . The inaction was maddening .