midnight
His cloak of impudence fell suddenly from his shoulders and returning the golden mask , he bowed and begged her pardon with unmistakable deference . `` Let a humbled Palmer , '' he said quietly , `` pay his sincerest homage to the most beautiful woman he has even seen . '' And as the girl moved proudly away , the strain of fantastic music which followed her was subtly deferential . At midnight a mellow chime rang somewhere by the cypress pool . Laughing and jesting , calling to one another , the masked crowd moved off to the vine-hung villa ahead , gleaming moon-white through the shrubbery . Somewhat reluctantly the minstrel followed . It had been his intention to unmask in some secluded corner whence , presently , he might slip away to his room , but finding himself jostled and pushed on by a Greek and a Bedouin who , to do them justice , seemed quite unaware of their importunities , he surrendered to the press about him and presently found himself in an unpleasantly conspicuous spot in the great room which the Sherrills occasionally used as a ballroom .