midnight
`` I certainly have not either , living here like a snail in its shell , '' said Dame Joanna , fixing her bright eyes on Paula with fervent admiration . That evening Rufinus was sitting in the garden with his wife and daughter and their friend Philippus . Paula , too , was there , and from time to time she stroked Pulcheria 's silky golden hair , for the girl had seated herself at her feet , leaning her head against Paula 's knee . The moon was full , and it was so light out of doors that they could see each other plainly , so Rufinus ' proposition that they should remain to watch an eclipse which was to take place an hour before midnight found all the more ready acceptance because the air was pleasant . The men had been discussing the expected phenomenon , lamenting that the Church should still lend itself to the superstitions of the populace by regarding it as of evil omen , and organizing a penitential procession for the occasion to implore God to avert all ill . Rufinus declared that it was blasphemy against the Almighty to interpret events happening in the course of eternal law and calculable beforehand , as a threatening sign from Him ; as though man 's deserts had any connection with the courses of the sun and moon . The Bishop and all the priests of the province were to head the procession , and thus a simple natural phenomenon was forced in the minds of the people into a significance it did not possess .