midnight
The crowd that vitalised the street was strikingly cosmopolitan . Mostly big , bearded fellows they were , with here the full-blooded face of the saloon man , and there the quick , pallid mask of the gambler . Women too I saw in plenty , bold , free , predacious creatures , a rustle of silk and a reek of perfume . Till midnight I wandered up and down the long street ; but there was no darkness , no lull in its clamorous life . I was looking for Berna . My heart hungered for her ; my eyes ached for her ; my mind was so full of her there seemed no room for another single thought . But it was like looking for a needle in a strawstack to find her in that seething multitude .