noon
They died , and made no sign . From that moment Zanoni 's house -- nay , the whole vicinity -- was sacred . The neighbouring villages , rejoiced to be delivered from a scourge , regarded the stranger as one whom the Pagiana -LRB- or Virgin -RRB- held under her especial protection . In truth , the lively Greeks around , facile to all external impressions , and struck with the singular and majestic beauty of the man who knew their language as a native , whose voice often cheered them in their humble sorrows , and whose hand was never closed to their wants , long after he had left their shore preserved his memory by grateful traditions , and still point to the lofty platanus beneath which they had often seen him seated , alone and thoughtful , in the heats of noon . But Zanoni had haunts less open to the gaze than the shade of the platanus . In that isle there are the bituminous springs which Herodotus has commemorated . Often at night , the moon , at least , beheld him emerging from the myrtle and cystus that clothe the hillocks around the marsh that imbeds the pools containing the inflammable materia , all the medical uses of which , as applied to the nerves of organic life , modern science has not yet perhaps explored .