midnight
`` I a bad singer ! I who am the equal of the greatest performers ! '' By this time , the doctor and Vendramin , Capraja , Cataneo , and Genovese had made their way to the piazzetta . It was midnight . The glittering bay , outlined by the churches of San Giorgio and San Paulo at the end of the Giudecca , and the beginning of the Grand Canal , that opens so mysteriously under the _ Dogana _ and the church of Santa Maria della Salute , lay glorious and still . The moon shone on the barques along the Riva de ' Schiavoni . The waters of Venice , where there is no tide , looked as if they were alive , dancing with a myriad spangles .