midnight
Confiding in this superabundant strength , the sheriff -- to whom Sir Charles Davenant had resigned the disposal of the soldiers -- had not thought it necessary to take any other precautions than that of locking all the doors in the tower , and placing a guard of five men in the little guard-room which opened upon the rocky gallery . There was no possibility of any attempt on the part of the prisoner to escape ; nor of any sudden alarm in this quarter : the men were therefore allowed to sleep ; with directions to admit nobody who did not produce an order bearing the seal of the sheriff or the lord lieutenant . One centinel was placed inside the great gate ; and , in case of any alarm , he was to ring the great bell of the chapel . It was now midnight : profound silence reigned in the castle : and the sheriff , finding that all was quiet on the outside , retired to rest . Meantime in what state was the prisoner ? He knew nothing of any designs to liberate him : but he was more cheerful notwithstanding than he had been for some time past . Compared with that in which he had surrendered himself , his present state of mind might be called a happy one .