midnight
They heard no more of Denis ; and their business proceeded . Vexed , partly with himself , and partly at having been rebuked in General Brunet 's hearing , he went round the house by the balcony , and thence to the upper gallery , which commanded the finest sea view in the day-time , and the freshest sea breezes at night . There , in a somewhat perverse mood , he sang for his own pleasure the air which he had been checked for singing unconsciously . He remained there a long while -- he did not know how long -- till the moon rose , when he remembered that it must be midnight . As no one had called him , he supposed that the party in the library were still in consultation . As his eye rested on the bay , while he was considering whether he must not go in , he perceived something dark lying on the waters between the island and the shore . As he strained his sight , and as the waned moon rose higher , he discovered that it was a ship .