midnight
Faint streaks of light stole into the place of death through its narrow aperture , dimly revealing the ghastly sights of the charnel-house , and the slow reptiles that crawled along the floor . Again night came on , and the shadows of light , if I may use the expression , which revealed his cell , died away . A second morning had come , and a second time the feeble rays had been lost in utter darkness . It was near midnight , and the slender stock of provisions which he had brought with him were nigh exhausted . He started from his lowly couch -- he heard a rustling among the weeds at the mouth of the aisle -- he heard some one endeavouring to remove the fragment of an old gravestone that covered it . `` Faither ! '' whispered an eager voice -- `` faither -- it is me -- yer ain Grizel ! ''