midnight
Through a narrow opening in the wall he could see the noble church sleeping in the moonlight . Its walls of variegated marble had been built principally at the expense of the Barons of Stramen , for in those days it was not unfrequent for private families to erect magnificent churches from their own resources ; and as his eye rested upon the misty window , perhaps he felt that though utterly opposed in all else , there was one thing in common between his own haughty race and the founders of that church -- religion . The night wore on , and was far advanced ; but Gilbert still kept piling thought upon thought , unable and even scarcely desiring to exchange them for the deep repose or more confused images of slumber . It must have been after midnight when , as he lay awake , he could distinctly hear the sound of blows . Gilbert was not a moment in conjecturing the cause ; he knew at once that the venerable priest was subjecting himself to corporal chastisement . He did not live in an age when voluntary mortification was ridiculed , when a sacred ambition to imitate a crucified God insured contempt from man . Then , those self-denying religious were not taunted with `` the hope of gaining heaven by making earth a hell . ''