the hour of three
This , indeed , was the point on which the accomplished villain felt by the sinking of his heart that he had overshot his mark . When he looked closely into it , his whole frame became cold and feeble from despair , the hard paleness of mental suffering settled upon his face , and his brain was stunned by a stupor which almost destroyed the power of thinking . All this , however , availed him not . Before twelve o'clock the next day informations had been sworn against him , and at the hour of three he found himself in the very room which had been assigned to Connor O'Donovan , sinking under the double charge of abduction and robbery . And now once more did the mutability of public feeling and opinion as usual become apparent . No sooner had fame spread abroad the report of Flanagan 's two-fold crime , and his imprisonment , than those very people who had only a day or two before inferred that Connor O'Donovan was guilty , because his accuser 's conduct continued correct and blameless , now changed their tone , and insisted that the hand of God was visible in Flanagan 's punishment . Again were all the dark traits of his character dragged forward and exposed ; and this man reminded that man , as that man did some other man , that he had said more than once that Bartle Flanagan would be hanged for swearing away an innocent young man 's life .