midnight
` Show not fools nor bairns unfinished work , ' saith the byword . And by this time 't was night , and a little town at hand , where we went each to his inn ; for my master would not yield to put off his rags and other sores till morning ; nor I to enter an inn with a tatterdemalion . So we were to meet on the road at peep of day , and indeed , we still lodged apart , meeting at morn and parting at eve outside each town we lay at . And waking at midnight and cogitating , good thoughts came down to me , and sudden my heart was enlightened . I called to mind that my Margaret had withstood the taking of the burgomaster 's purse . `` Tis theft , ' said you ; ` disguise it how ye will . ' But I must be wiser than my betters ; and now that which I had as good as stolen , others had stolen from me .