noon
To begin with , for all the golden light still in the garden , with that silver wand of the fountain laid upon the stillness like a charm , it was already night among the palms , he said , and blacker than our friend Erebus in the woods -- and there was no moon . `` No moon ? '' I said , and , though the remark was meaningless , one might have thought , from Calypso 's face -- in which rose colour fought with a suggestion of submerged laughter -- that it had a meaning . If I had found it difficult going at high noon , he continued , with an immense sunlight overhead , how was I going to find it with the sun gone head-long into the sea , as was about to happen in a few moments . When the light that is in thee has become darkness , how great is that darkness ! _ Si ergo lumen quod in te est tenebræ sunt , ipsæ tenebræ quantæ erunt ! _ And he settled it , as he settled everything , with a whimsical quotation .