midnight
Now be off , and get to Raithu in good time . '' Hermas hurried up the mountain , his head full of the important task that had been laid upon him ; dazzling visions of the great deeds he was to accomplish eclipsed the image of the fair Sirona , and he was so accustomed to believe in the superior insight and kindness of Paulus that he feared no longer for Sirona now that his friend had made her affair his own . The Alexandrian looked after him , and breathed a short prayer for him ; then he went down again into the valley . It was long past midnight , and the moon was sinking ; it grew cooler and cooler , and since he had given his sheepskin to Hermas he had nothing on , but his thread-bare coat . Nevertheless he went slowly onwards , stopping every now and then , moving his arms , and speaking incoherent words in a low tone to himself . He thought of Hermas and Sirona , of his own youth , and of how in Alexandria he himself had tapped at the shutters of the dark-haired Aso , and the fair Simaitha . `` A child -- a mere boy , '' he murmured .