midnight
Again , `` The liar drives the point into a friend 's heart , and puts the hilt into a foe 's hand . '' The maxim that `` a lie is a shield in sore need , but the spear of a scoundrel , '' affirms the right in extremity to preserve a secret from impertinent inquisitiveness . Rarely , but on some peculiarly important occasions , the Zveltau avouch their sincerity by an appeal to their own symbols ; and it is affirmed that an oath attested by the Circle and the Star has never , in the lapse of ages , been broken or evaded . Before midnight Esmo dismissed the assembly by a formula which dimly recalled to memory one heard in my boyhood . It is not in the power of my translation to preserve the impressive solemnity of the immemorial ritual of the Zinta , deepened alike by the earnestness of its delivery , and the reverence of the hearers . There was something majestic in the mere antiquity of a liturgy whereof no word has ever been committed to writing . Five hundred generations have , it is alleged , gathered four times in each year in the Hall of Initiation ; and every meeting has been concluded by the utterance from the same spot and in the same words of the solemn but simple _ Zulvakalfe _ -LSB- word of peace -RSB- : -- `` Peace be with you , near and far , Children of the Silver Star ; Lore undoubting , conscience clean , Hope assured , and life serene .