midnight
The silence which prevailed about the tower , its desolateness , the very quiet of its inhabitants , had been adduced as proofs that something sinister was perpetrated within . The alchymist 's conversations and soliloquies in the garden had been overheard and misrepresented . The lights and strange appearances at night , in the tower , were given with violent exaggerations . Shrieks and yells were said to have been heard from thence at midnight , when , it was confidently asserted , the old man raised familiar spirits by his incantations , and even compelled the dead to rise from their graves , and answer to his questions . The alchymist , according to the custom of the inquisition , was kept in complete ignorance of his accuser ; of the witnesses produced against him ; even of the crimes of which he was accused . He was examined generally , whether he knew why he was arrested , and was conscious of any guilt that might deserve the notice of the holy office ? He was examined as to his country , his life , his habits , his pursuits , his actions , and opinions .