midnight
When that wise little child , Joan , got well , we realized how much her illness had cost us ; for we found that we had been right in believing she could save the fairies . She burst into a great storm of anger , for so little a creature , and went straight to Pere Fronte , and stood up before him where he sat , and made reverence and said : `` The fairies were to go if they showed themselves to people again , is it not so ? '' `` Yes , that was it , dear . '' `` If a man comes prying into a person 's room at midnight when that person is half-naked , will you be so unjust as to say that that person is showing himself to that man ? '' `` Well -- no . '' The good priest looked a little troubled and uneasy when he said it . `` Is a sin a sin , anyway , even if one did not intend to commit it ? ''