midnight
Long hours the baronet sat alone . The house had not its usual influx of Feverels that day . Austin Wentworth was staying at Poer Hall , and had only come over for an hour . At midnight the house breathed sleep . Sir Austin put on his cloak and cap , and took the lamp to make his rounds . He apprehended nothing special , but with a mind never at rest he constituted himself the sentinel of Raynham . He passed the chamber where the Great-Aunt Grantley lay , who was to swell Richard 's fortune , and so perform her chief business on earth .