the hour of nine in the evening
At night the faint , sepulchral blaze of candles only served to make the darkness palpable and more ghastly . The huge school-room was as primitive and comfortless in its appointments and furniture as well could be . The walls were of dressed stone and loomed up bare and grisly to a lofty ceiling that was covered with a perfect labyrinth of curiously carved beams , the work of some unknown artist of long ago . The scholars ' dormitories were narrow cell-like affairs , scantily furnished , in which every light must be extinguished at the hour of nine in the evening . Once admitted to the school , the pupils were not permitted to leave its precincts save at vacation or at the termination of their course of studies , a circumstance that heartily disgusted the gay , light-hearted Italian girls sent there to receive both mental and moral training . Another source of grave vexation to them was the regulation , already alluded to , that rigorously excluded all male visitors , with the exception of parents or guardians . Attached to the convent was an extensive garden , full of huge trees that had , apparently , stood there for centuries , so bent , gnarled and aged were they .