midnight
Remember , therefore , that he , to whom the punishment of another is sweet ; though his act may be just with respect to others , with respect to himself it is a deed of darkness , and abhorred by the Almighty . ' HAMET , who had stood abstracted in the contemplation of the new injury he had suffered , while OMAR was persuading him not to revenge it , started from his posture in all the wildness of distraction ; and bursting away from OMAR , with an ardent and furious look hasted toward the palace , and was soon out of sight . In the mean time , ALMORAN , after having effected the transformation , was met , as he was going to the apartment of ALMEIDA , by Osmyn . Osmyn had already experienced the misery of dependent greatness , that kept him continually under the eye of a capricious tyrant , whose temper was various as the gales of summer , and whose anger was sudden as the bolt of heaven ; whose purpose and passions were dark and impetuous as the midnight storm , and at whose command death was inevitable as the approach of time . When he saw ALMORAN , therefore , in the likeness of HAMET , he felt a secret desire to apprize him of his situation , and offer him his friendship . ALMORAN , who with the form assumed the manners of HAMET , addressed Osmyn with a mild though mournful countenance : ` At length , ' said he , ` the will of ALMORAN alone is law ; does it permit me to hold a private rank in this place , without molestation ? ' ` It permits , ' said Osmyn , ` yet more ; he has commanded , that you should have admittance to ALMEIDA . '