midnight
I sprang up , but the lad reached across the table and smote me back into the chair . `` Softly , old firebrand ; 't was you who said the public matter must take precedence of the private . Moreover , if this be Francis Falconnet whom I have seen , your sweetest revenge on him will be to let him live -- as he is . '' `` I will kill him as I would a wild beast , '' I raged , thinking of that midnight scene in the great forest when my sweet lady had gone on her knees to this fiend in human guise . `` And so should you , '' I added , `` if you care aught for the honor of the woman who loves you . '' But now it was this hot-headed Richard I have drawn for you who saw farthest and clearest . `` All in good time , '' he said , coolly .