midnight
thou murderer ! '' Master Robert snatched Myles away from his father , and bore him out of the room in spite of his screams and struggles , and he remembered just one instant 's sight of Sir John lying still and silent upon his face , and of the black knight standing above him , with the terrible mace in his hand stained a dreadful red . It was the next day that Lord and Lady Falworth and little Myles , together with three of the more faithful of their people , left the castle . His memory of past things held a picture for Myles of old Diccon Bowman standing over him in the silence of midnight with a lighted lamp in his hand , and with it a recollection of being bidden to hush when he would have spoken , and of being dressed by Diccon and one of the women , bewildered with sleep , shuddering and chattering with cold . He remembered being wrapped in the sheepskin that lay at the foot of his bed , and of being carried in Diccon Bowman 's arms down the silent darkness of the winding stair-way , with the great black giant shadows swaying and flickering upon the stone wall as the dull flame of the lamp swayed and flickered in the cold breathing of the night air . Below were his father and mother and two or three others . A stranger stood warming his hands at a newly-made fire , and little Myles , as he peeped from out the warm sheepskin , saw that he was in riding-boots and was covered with mud .