midnight
He followed into the market , and watched the men unloading their waggons . A white-smocked carter offered him some cherries . He thanked him , and wondered why he refused to accept any money for them , and began to eat them listlessly . They had been plucked at midnight , and the coldness of the moon had entered into them . A long line of boys carrying crates of striped tulips , and of yellow and red roses , defiled in front of him , threading their way through the huge jade-green piles of vegetables . Under the portico , with its grey sun-bleached pillars , loitered a troop of draggled bareheaded girls , waiting for the auction to be over . Others crowded round the swinging doors of the coffee-house in the Piazza .