About midnight
Little by little the hideous suspense was acting upon him , and the knowledge that not a hundred yards away from him the wonderful woman whom he had seen at Chartley , the loving and humble Catholic , who had kneeled so ardently before her Lord , the Queen who had received from him the sacraments for which she thirsted -- the knowledge that she was breaking her heart , so near , for the consolation which a priest only could give , and that he , a priest , was free to go through all England , except through that towered gateway past which he walked every day -- this increased his misery and his longing . The very day he had been through -- the Sunday on which he could neither say nor even hear mass -LRB- for , because of the greatness of that which was at stake , he had thought it wiser to bring with him nothing that could arouse suspicion -RRB- -- and the hearing of the bells from the church calling to Protestant prayers , and the sight of the crowds going and returning -- this brought him lower than he had been since his first coming to England . He lay then in the darkness , turning from side to side , thinking of these things , listening to the breathing of the young man who lay on blankets at the foot of his bed . About midnight he could lie there no longer . He got out of bed noiselessly , stepped across the other , went to the window-seat and sat down there , staring out , with eyes well accustomed to the darkness , towards the vast outline against the sky which he knew was the keep of the castle . No light burned there to relieve its brutality . It remained there , implacable as English justice , immovable as the heart of Elizabeth and the composure of the gaoler who kept it ... .