midnight
A second endeavour , in an urgent letter before nightfall to gain him admission to head-quarters , met the same repulse as the foregoing . The bearer of it was dismissed without an answer . Alvan passed a night of dire disturbance . The fate of the noble Genoese conspirator , slipping into still harbour water on the step from boat to boat , and borne down by the weight of his armour in the moment of the ripeness of his plot at midnight , when the signal for action sparkled to lighten across the ships and forts , had touched him in his boy 's readings , and he found a resemblance of himself to Fiesco , stopped as he was by a base impediment , tripped ignominiously , choked by the weight of the powers fitting him for battle . A man such as Alvan , arrested on his career by an opposition to his enrolment of a bride ! -- think of it ! What was this girl in a life like his ?