midnight
Deriving his idiosyncrasies from both sides of the Channel , he showed at such junctures as the present the inelasticity of the Englishman , together with that blindness to the line where sentiment verges on mawkishness , characteristic of the French . It was a cloudy , muggy , and very dark night , and the rays from Troy 's lantern spread into the two old yews with a strange illuminating power , flickering , as it seemed , up to the black ceiling of cloud above . He felt a large drop of rain upon the back of his hand , and presently one came and entered one of the holes of the lantern , whereupon the candle sputtered and went out . Troy was weary and it being now not far from midnight , and the rain threatening to increase , he resolved to leave the finishing touches of his labour until the day should break . He groped along the wall and over the graves in the dark till he found himself round at the north side . Here he entered the porch , and , reclining upon the bench within , fell asleep . The tower of Weatherbury Church was a square erection of fourteenth-century date , having two stone gurgoyles on each of the four faces of its parapet .