midnight
When the Pope recovered consciousness he found himself in bed , with slight symptoms of fever . His first care was to summon Cardinal Barbadico , and confer with him respecting the surprising adventures which had recently befallen them . To his amazement , the Cardinal 's mind seemed an entire blank on the subject . He admitted having made his customary report to his Holiness the preceding night , but knew nothing of any supernatural ratcatcher , and nothing of any midnight rendezvous at the Appartamento Borgia . Investigation seemed to justify his nescience ; no vestige of the man of rats or of his shop could be discovered ; and the Borgian apartments , opened and carefully searched through , revealed no trace of having been visited for many years . The Pope 's book of exorcisms was in its proper place , his vial of holy water stood unbroken upon his table ; and his chamberlains deposed that they had consigned him to Morpheus at the usual hour . His illusion was at first explained as the effect of a peculiarly vivid dream ; but when he declared his intention of actually holding a service and conducting a procession for the weal of his namesake and predecessor , the conviction became universal that the rats had effected a lodgement in his Holiness 's upper storeys .