midnight
Now the single postern stair of the castle was shut at the foot , where it opened out upon the hall of the guard by a sparred iron gate , the key of which was put into Sholto 's charge . The night closed early upon the castle-ful of wearied folk . The marshals of the camps caused the lights to be put out at nine-of-the-clock in all the tents and pavilions , but the lamps and candles burned longer in the castle itself , where the Earl had been giving a banquet to his guests , of the best that his estates could afford . Nevertheless , it was yet long before midnight when the cheep of the mouse in the wainscot , the restless stir or muffled snore of a crowded sleeper in the guardroom , was the only sound to be heard from dungeon to banner-staff of the great castle . Sholto 's heart throbbed tumultuous and insurgent within him . And small is the wonder . Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined such a fate as this , to be actual captain of the Earl 's own body-guard , even though neither title nor emolument was yet wholly his ; better still , that he should dwell night and day within arm 's reach almost of the desire of his heart , flinty-bosomed and mischievous as she was -- these were heights of good fortune to which his imagination had never climbed in its most daring ascents .