midday
She had a beautiful white candle burning in a painted candlestick , and it shed light on the soft green furniture , and the mat , and the white quilt , and the pictures on the walls , till it all looked more fairylandish than ever ; and Matilda could hardly believe her own senses that it was real . And when the candle was covered with its painted extinguisher , and the moonlight streamed in through the muslin curtains , it was lovelier yet . Matilda went to the window and gazed out . The fields and copses lay all crisp and bright in the cool moonbeams ; and over beyond lay the blue mountains , in a misty indistinctness that was even more ensnaring than their midday beauty . And no bell of Mrs. Candy 's could sound in that fairy chamber to summon Matilda to what she did n't like . She was almost too happy ; only there came the thought , how she would ever bear to go away again . That thought came in the morning too .