midnight
`` But she fancied me asleep while she was talking of it . She said that a thousand and a thousand people had met him here , and had written in his book , and have his mark on them . And that ugly-tempered lady , old Mistress Hibbins , was one . And , mother , the old dame said that this scarlet letter was the Black Man 's mark on thee , and that it glows like a red flame when thou meetest him at midnight , here in the dark wood . Is it true , mother ? And dost thou go to meet him in the night-time ? '' `` Didst thou ever awake , and find thy mother gone ? ''