midnight
If he could make his wife love him , he was saved . The next day , at midnight , after an evening spent together , with the addition of the four witnesses , to whom Madame Evangelista gave the formal dinner which follows the legal marriage , the bridal pair , accompanied by their friends , heard mass by torchlight , in presence of a crowd of inquisitive persons . A marriage celebrated at night always suggests to the mind an unpleasant omen . Light is the symbol of life and pleasure , the forecasts of which are lacking to a midnight wedding . Ask the intrepid soul why it shivers ; why the chill of those black arches enervates it ; why the sound of steps startles it ; why it notices the cry of bats and the hoot of owls . Though there is absolutely no reason to tremble , all present do tremble , and the darkness , emblem of death , saddens them . Natalie , parted from her mother , wept .