twelve o'clock
Since the departure of Harden , no intelligence had come from him ; and so strange had been his conduct when he went away , that his wife had often to combat the rising thought , that the fate of his favourite son had unsettled his intellects , and driven him away from the scene of his loss , in some wild dream of superstitious retribution . The locking up of his sons was the very reverse of the conduct which his revengeful nature might have dictated ; and the taking with him the bloody doublet , through the sword-hole in which he declared he saw the lands of Gilmanscleugh his own , was far more like the act of a madman , than that of one who had duties to perform to himself , to his wife and children , on that sorrowful occasion , more serious and difficult than he had ever yet been called upon to fulfil . These thoughts rising throughout the dark night , when her ears were pained by the strange noises proceeding from the excitement of her sons , and her eye had nothing to rest on but the dead body of him who lay stretched by her side , stung her with anguish , and filled her heart with boding anticipations of terror . The third night was on the wing ; and , though twelve o'clock had passed , there was no appearance of her husband . Her sons had become more than ordinarily restless , and said that , if their father did not make his appearance in the morning , they would disregard all authority , and call to the retainers to break down the door with battle-axes , and set them at liberty . She heard them in silence , and trembled to communicate to them the thoughts that had been passing through her mind as to the sanity and safety of their father . In a little , the restless prisoners began to fall over into their troubled sleep , and the moon , newly risen , sent in through the small windows a bright beam , that lay on the face of the corpse .