midnight
`` I will never leave Whitecraigs , mother , '' she said ; and bent her steps towards the door . `` Let her follow her fancy , '' said Wallace . Then relapsing into a fit of musing , he added -- `` the 29th of September of this year will soon be of the time that is . For twenty years I have looked forward to that day -- under a burning sun , far from my native land , I have sighed for it -- in the midnight hour I have counted the years and days that were between . Every anniversary was devoted to the God who has chastened the heart of the sinner ; and there was need , when that heart was full of the thoughts inspired by that day , and penitence came on the wings of terror . Now it approaches ; and I have not miscalculated the benefits it may pour on other heads than mine . '' `` Alas ! ''