midnight
This interview with the priest had been the most eventful hour of his life . He had learned the secret of his parentage , the wrongs and sufferings of his father and mother , the villany of Cazeneau , the true reason for the bitter enmity which in him had triumphed over gratitude , and made him seek so pertinaciously the life of the man who had once saved his own . It seemed like a dream . But a short time before , not one ray of hope appeared to illuminate the midnight gloom which reigned around him and within him . Now all was dazzling brightness . It seemed too bright ; it was unnatural ; it was too much to hope for . That he should escape was of itself happiness enough ; but that he should also join Mimi once more , and that he should be joined to her , no more to part till death , was an incredible thing .