Having already left the cathedral, Claude
Frollo knew nothing of what had happened.
Wanting to be alone, he had taken a boat
across the Seine. There he walked in the hills,
lost in his dark thoughts.
“By now, she is dead,” he whispered to
himself. “I have killed her!”
Frollo felt no sorrow for what he had done.
If he had to, he would do it again. He would
rather see her in the hands of the hangman
than in the arms of the captain. But then he
thought of her at the last hour—the cruel
rope about her neck! Suddenly, the first waves
of guilt swept over him.
Sorry mybe my question is easy but as none native speaker I doubt whether its meaning is:
1:He thought of The time they wanted to hang the girl?
2: He thought of her for the last time?
I think 1 is correct.
Best Answer
The cited usage isn't particularly common, but it's really just an alternative version of the exceptionally common usage as covered by Cambridge Dictionary ...
Personally, I don't think the cited usage represents a good choice by the translator (the context seems to be a translation of Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre-Dame). I'd have preferred something like in her last few minutes (the last few minutes before she was hanged), if we suppose that singular the last minute was too short a time when interpreted literally. But note that it's not usually a literal reference to 60 seconds.
In case it's not obvious from the above, the "answer" here is neither of OP's suggestions. What Claude Frollo was thinking about was the girl who was hanged [Esmeralda?] - specifically, about her (her circumstances / feelings / etc.) when she knew she was just about to be hanged / near the point of death.