four o'clock in the morning
All the cruel , hard , weary of his captivity , his mother had lived green and fresh in his heart . Many and many a night had he wet his wretched pillow with the thought of how once he had lain in that mother 's arms , and she had petted him and showered love upon him . The memory of her face , of her love , of her devotion , had kept him from doing the wrong things which the other boys in the company had done ; and now , when he might so soon see her , must he give her up ? He knew that if he once got back to his old master he would take good care to keep him from running away again ; if he put himself at four o'clock in the morning into Anton 's hands , _ it would be for life _ . He might , when he was quite old and broken down by misery and hardship , return to France ; but what use would it be to him then , when he had only his mother 's grave to visit ? He could escape all that ; he could go back to the Pyrenees ; he could see his mother 's face once more . How ?