midnight
In the twinkling of an eye he and his man were out of the inn . As they ran to the place where the mule was tied to an old ring in the crumbling wall of a half-ruined house near to the ascent to the castle , the man told Nino that the fine gentleman had ridden toward Trevi , down the valley , Nino mounted , and hastened in the same direction . As he rode he reflected that it would be wiser to meet the count on his return , and pass him after the interview , as though going away from Fillettino . It would be a little harder for the mule ; but such an animal , used to bearing enormous burdens for twelve hours at a stretch , could well carry Nino only a few miles of good road before sunset , and yet be fresh again by midnight . One of those great sleek mules , if good-tempered , will tire three horses , and never feel the worse for it . He therefore let the beast go her own pace along the road to Trevi , winding by the brink of the rushing torrent : sometimes beneath great overhanging cliffs , sometimes through bits of cultivated land , where the valley widens ; and now and then passing under some beech-trees , still naked and skeleton-like in the bright March air . But Nino rode many miles , as he thought , without meeting the count , dangling his feet out of the stirrups , and humming snatches of song to himself to pass the time .