midnight
At length my offence of having escaped from a monastery and sundry blasphemies , so-called , being proved against me , I was condemned to death by fire . ` Then at last , when after a long year of torment and of horror , I had abandoned hope and resigned myself to die , help came . On the eve of the day upon which I was to be consumed by flame , the chief of my tormentors entered the dungeon where I lay on straw , and embracing me bade me be of good cheer , for the church had taken pity on my youth and given me my freedom . At first I laughed wildly , for I thought that this was but another torment , and not till I was freed of my fetters , clothed in decent garments , and set at midnight without the prison gates , would I believe that so good a thing had befallen me through the hand of God . I stood weak and wondering outside the gates , not knowing where to fly , and as I stood a woman glided up to me wrapped in a dark cloak , who whispered `` Come . '' That woman was your mother . She had learned of my fate from the boasting of de Garcia and set herself to save me .