five hours
after noon
Taking advantage of Sir Alan 's absence , she had called the boy to her side , and made him promise that , at the first manifest sign of danger , he would make his escape , which , by his extreme agility and address , would easily be achieved , seek the king , and give him exact information of the numbers , strength , and situation of the foes , reminding him , at the same time , of his solemn pledge . She made him promise the profoundest secrecy , and adjured him at all hazards to save the king . The boy , affected by the solemnity of her manner , promised faithfully to observe her minutest sign , and on the re-entrance of Sir Alan departed , to marvel wherefore his lady should so have spoken , and examine the localities around , as to the best means of concealment and escape . The hours waned , and night fell , as is usual in October , some five hours after noon , the gloom perhaps greatly increased by the deep shades in which their place of concealment lay . Sir Alan roused the fire to a cheerful blaze , and lighting a torch of pine-wood , placed it in an iron bracket projecting from the wall , and amused himself by polishing his arms , and talking in that joyous tone his mother so loved , on every subject that his affection fancied might interest and amuse her . He was wholly unarmed , except his sword , which , secured to his waist by a crimson sash , he never laid aside ; and fair and graceful to his mother 's eye did he look in his simple doublet of Lincoln-green , cut and slashed with ruby velvet , his dark curls clustering round his bare throat , and his bright face beaming in all the animation of youth and health , spiritualized by the deeper feelings of his soul ; and she , too , was still beautiful , though her frame was slighter , her features more attenuated than when we first beheld her . He had insisted on her reclining on the couch , and drawn from her otherwise painful thoughts by his animated sallies , smiles circled her pale lip , and her sorrows were a while forgotten .