midnight
Then they swam . And after dinner they played billiards , while Franco and Baldo smoked short pipes , and sipped whiskey and soda -- but a half-pennyworth of whiskey , as Adrian noticed , to an intolerable deal of soda . Blood will tell , and theirs , in spite of everything , was abstemious Italian blood . `` Now , Commendatore , '' said Susanna , making her face grave , `` listen , and you shall hear '' -- but then her gravity broke down -- `` of the midnight ride of Paul Revere , '' she concluded , laughing . She raised her eyes to his , aglow with that tender , appealing , mocking , defiant smile of hers . He , poor man , smiled too , though not very happily , I fear -- nay , even with a kind of suspicious bewilderment , as one who sniffs brewing mischief , but knows not of what particular variety it will be . They were seated in the shade and the coolness of a long open colonnade at Isola Nobile , while , all round them , the August morning , like a thing alive , pulsated with warmth and light , and the dancing waves of the bay lapped musically against the walls below .