eight o'clock
`` Mercy on us ! '' quoth Milena , crossing herself repeatedly . `` In fact , since all these new-fangled , heathenish inventions , you hear of nothing but fires on land and shipwrecks at sea . People once went to bed as soon as it was dark ; at eight o'clock every fire and every light was put out . Now , people will soon be turning night into day , as they do in Francezka and Vnetci -LRB- Venice -RRB- , flying thus in the very face of God Himself . Now all the rotten ships are sent to sea , where they founder at the very first storm . It is n't true , perhaps ? ''