summer noon
The gate was still there ; but as he gazed it resolved itself into his shuttered window , barred with wide lines of sunlight . It was day , then ! He sprang out of bed and flung open the shutters . Beneath him lay the piazza of Vercelli , bathed in the vertical brightness of a summer noon ; and as he stared out on this inexorable scene , the clock over the Hospital struck twelve . Twelve o'clock ! And he had promised to meet Vivaldi at dawn behind the Umiliati ! As the truth forced itself on Odo he dropped into a chair and hid his face with a groan .