midnight
`` And canna be fashioned to man 's purposes , and made a picklock o ' ? Weel , weel , Christian , I 'm content . '' But George Gourlay was not content , neither then nor for several nights ; nor even in that hour when , having watched guidwife Christian as she lay on the liver side , and heard the `` snurr , snurr , '' of her deepest sleep , and listened to the corresponding knurr of the old timepiece as it beat hoarsely the key-stone hour between the night and the day , he slipt noiselessly out of bed , and listened again to ascertain whether his stealthy movement had disturbed his wife . All safe -- nor sound anywhere within the house , or even in the Wynd , where midnight orgies of the new-comers sometimes annoyed the remaining grandees not yet gone over the Loch ; no , nor rap , rap , upwards from the spirits in the deserted house right below him , inviting him by the call of `` Let me out . '' Most opportune silence , -- not even broken by guidwife Christian 's Baudron watching with brain-lighted eyes at some hole in a meat-press . And dark too , not less than Cimmerian , save only for a small rule of moonlight , which , penetrating a circular hole in the shutter , played fitfully , as the clouds went over its source , on a point of the red curtains -- sometimes disappearing altogether . By a little groping he got his hose ; nor more would he venture to search for , but finding his way by touch of the finger , he reached the kitchen , where he lighted the end of a small dip .