midnight
Then , as he watched , it came again , without warning and without sound -- that same brilliant flare of light , against which the towers and walls stood out pitch-black . A third time it came , and all was dark once more . * * * * * In the morning , as he sat over his ale in the tavern below , he listened , without lifting his eyes , engrossed , it seemed , in a little book he was reading , to the excited talk of a group of soldiers . One of them , he said , had been on guard beneath the Queen 's windows last night , and between midnight and one o'clock had seen three times a brilliant light explode itself , like soundless gunpowder , immediately over the room where she slept . And this he asserted , over and over again . On the following Saturday John Merton came up into the room where the priest was sleeping after dinner and awakened him . `` If you will come at once with me , sir , you can have speech with Mr. Bourgoign .