midnight
He wanted to load her name with curses now ; but this name had so long been sacred to him that he found he could not bring his tongue to profane it . Wrapped in prison blankets of a soiled and tattered condition , Hendon and the King passed a troubled night . For a bribe the jailer had furnished liquor to some of the prisoners ; singing of ribald songs , fighting , shouting , and carousing was the natural consequence . At last , a while after midnight , a man attacked a woman and nearly killed her by beating her over the head with his manacles before the jailer could come to the rescue . The jailer restored peace by giving the man a sound clubbing about the head and shoulders -- then the carousing ceased ; and after that , all had an opportunity to sleep who did not mind the annoyance of the moanings and groanings of the two wounded people . During the ensuing week , the days and nights were of a monotonous sameness as to events ; men whose faces Hendon remembered more or less distinctly , came , by day , to gaze at the ` impostor ' and repudiate and insult him ; and by night the carousing and brawling went on with symmetrical regularity . However , there was a change of incident at last .