noon
Keep the secret , as thou hast said . ' ` I will , and perchance some power may save thee from the vengeance of earth and hell . ' The evening sun had set behind great frowning clouds of crimson and gray ; dark masses like funeral steeds moved slowly through the sky . The night came , dark and dreary ; a sable mantle of clouds hung from east to west like a wall of gloom , and when from noon ten hours had sped Chios went forth , following the highway to the Temple . He was clad in a mantle of azure blue , shrouded from head to foot ; his most intimate friends would have passed without knowing him . The Temple was at his right hand , and he had gained the outskirts of the great forest of pine-trees . He saw the river Cayster winding towards the sea like a river of death .