midnight
Gradually I learned what had reached their ears . Yesterday evening , on his way home from here , the man outside , Casper Eysvogel , sullied your -- our -- good name , child , in a way I have just learned the particulars . He boasted , in the presence of those estimable old gentlemen , the Brothers Ebner , that he had flung at my feet the ring which bound you to his son . You had been surprised at midnight , he said , in the arms of a Swiss knight , and that base scoundrel Siebenburg , his daughter 's husband , dared at the gaming-table , before a number of knights and gentlemen -- among them young Hans Gross , Veit Holzschuher , and others-to put your interview with the Swiss in so false a light that No , I can not bring my lips to utter it -- `` You need hear only this one thing more : the wretch said that he thanked his patron saint that they had discovered the jade 's tricks in time . And this , child , was the real belief of the whole contemptible crew ! But now that the water is up to their necks , and they need my helping hand to save them from drowning-now they will graciously take Ernst Ortlieb 's daughter if he will give them his property into the bargain , that they may destroy both fortune and child . No -- a thousand times no !