An
hour after midnight
Don Silverio had said in his last words . But to Adone it seemed that neither prayer nor sleep would ever come to him again so long as this impending evil hung over him and the water of Edera . He spent the first part of that summer night wandering aimlessly up and down his own bank , blind to the beauty of the moonlight , deaf to the songs of the nightingales , his mind filled with one thought . An hour after midnight he went home and let himself into the silent house by a small door which opened at the back , and which he used on such rare occasions as he stayed out late . He struck a match and went up to his room , and threw himself , dressed , upon his bed . His mother was listening for his return , but she did not call to him . She knew he was a man now , and must be left to his own will .