about
two o'clock in the morning
Sir Roger and all the friends of Mr William Graham were opposed to his union with Miss Palmer , as Graham always called her . Her own father , too , was opposed to her forming a connection with the son of one who had treated him so cruelly , and , as he thought , unjustly -- and it became manifest to William , as he was in every sense of the word his own master , that had he his fair betrothed in the leas of Middlefield , he might set them all at defiance , and effect their union peaceably , according to the rules of the church . In an evil hour , Helen consented to leave her father 's house by night , along with her William , and on horseback , to take their way across the Border for Cumberland . They had reached the parish of Kirkconnel about two o'clock in the morning , and were giving their horses a mouthful of water in the little stream called Kirtle , when a shot was heard in the immediate neighbourhood -- it was heard , alas ! by two only , for the third was dying , and in the act of falling from her seat in the saddle . She was caught by a servant , and by her lover ; but she could only say -- `` I am gone -- I am gone ! '' before breathing her last .