midnight
`` My gardens are deep and dim and quiet . No sound from here would reach the world outside . No , not the death-cry nor the shriek of tortured flesh . '' Perpetua gazed at her as she might at some spirit of evil released at midnight to wreak its will upon the sinful . There was a great horror in her heart , but there was a great courage in her voice . `` Whoever you are , you can not frighten me ; you dare not keep me here . '' Lycabetta thrust her head a little forward , like a snake about to strike .