midnight
I shall be awaiting you ! '' When she entered the house , with a view to concealing her emotions and making some secret preparations for the accomplishment of the sudden project foreshadowed by the words of the stranger , she hastily gained her chamber . When alone , she gazed confused yet enraptured on the unexpected talisman that had been given her , and which she still held firmly in her grasp . Soon , however , becoming more calm , she set about making such arrangements for her midnight tryst as she conceived necessary ; upon the completion of which , she penned a few lines to her kind relatives , begging them to make no inquiries after her , as she was safe ; although , for reasons afterwards to be explained , she was obliged to leave their roof by stealth , and for the moment in utter darkness as to her destination . She assured them , nevertheless , that although her conduct was for the present suspicious and inexplicable , she was free from any taint of wrong , and was only obeying a voice that would soon justify to the fullest , and before them personally , the step she was now about to take . This note was left upon her bed-room table , where she knew it would be discovered ; so , after declining to join the family at tea , on the plea of slight indisposition , she filled a traveling satchel with what necessaries she thought she might require for the few days she presumed she should be absent , and extinguishing her lamp at the hour she usually retired to rest , awaited , alone and in silence , for the clock to strike eleven ; at which time she knew the family would have all sought their couch and be sunk in slumber . From her chamber window she perceived that the lights soon began to disappear from the casements of the few dwellings that were in the immediate vicinity of her habitation , and that the quiet of repose was stealing over the neighborhood .