midnight
Demetti 's tomb was in the form of a shrine with an angel at the top . The Italian opera had once visited S -- and one of the singers had died ; she had been buried here , and this monument put up to her . No one in the town remembered her , but the lamp at the entrance reflected the moonlight , and looked as though it were burning . There was no one , and , indeed , who would come here at midnight ? But Startsev waited , and as though the moonlight warmed his passion , he waited passionately , and , in imagination , pictured kisses and embraces . He sat near the monument for half an hour , then paced up and down the side avenues , with his hat in his hand , waiting and thinking of the many women and girls buried in these tombs who had been beautiful and fascinating , who had loved , at night burned with passion , yielding themselves to caresses . How wickedly Mother Nature jested at man 's expense , after all !