midnight
His home was destroyed , his wife and child had disappeared . He madly sought for us all over Italy , and at last , disguised as a peasant , he discovered Gisa in a convent at Ticinum . They had torn her boy from her arms , and taken him to Rome . My father arranged everything for her flight from the convent ; at midnight they escaped over the wall of the cloister garden . But the next morning the sisters missed their prisoner at the _ hora _ -- her cell was empty . The convent servants followed the track of the horses -- they were overtaken . Fighting desperately , my father fell ; my mother was taken back to the convent .