midnight
`` Blessed art Thou amongst women ... '' At length a heaviness weighs upon her , and the holy words are spoken with greater effort and slowly ; yet the beads pass through her fingers in endless succession , and each one launches the offering of an Ave to that sky where Mary the compassionate is surely seated on her throne , hearkening to the music of prayers that ever rise , and brooding over the memory of that blest night . `` The Lord is with Thee ... '' The fence-rails were very black upon the white expanse palely lighted by the moon ; trunks of birch trees standing against the dark background of forest were like the skeletons of living creatures smitten with the cold and stricken by death ; but the glacial night was awesome rather than affrighting . `` With the roads as they are we will not be the only ones who have to stay at home this evening , '' said Madame Chapdelaine . `` But is there anything more lovely than the midnight mass at Saint Coeur de Marie , with Yvonne Boilly playing the harmonium , and Pacifique Simard who sings the Latin so beautifully ! '' She was very careful to say nothing that might seem reproachful or complaining on such a night as this , but in spite of herself the words and tone had a sad ring of loneliness and remoteness . Her husband noticed it , and , himself under the influence of the day , was quick to take the blame . `` It is true enough , Laura , that you would have had a happier life with some other man than me , who lived on a comfortable farm , near the settlements . ''