four o'clock afternoon
As this office was held by the common executioner , men shouldered each other backward to avoid even the touch of his garment , and some were seen to brush their own clothes , which had accidentally become subject to such contamination . A sound went through the Court , produced by each person drawing in their breath hard , as men do when they expect or witness what is frightful , and at the same time affecting . The caitiff villain yet seemed , amid his hardened brutality , to have some sense of his being the object of public detestation , which made him impatient of being in public , as birds of evil omen are anxious to escape from daylight , and from pure air . Repeating after the Clerk of Court , he gabbled over the words of the sentence , which condemned Euphemia Deans to be conducted back to the Tolbooth of Edinburgh , and detained there until Wednesday the day of -- ; and upon that day , betwixt the hours of two and four o'clock afternoon , to be conveyed to the common place of execution , and there hanged by the neck upon a gibbet . `` And this , '' said the Doomster , aggravating his harsh voice , `` I pronounce for _ doom . _ '' He vanished when he had spoken the last emphatic word , like a foul fiend after the purpose of his visitation had been accomplished ; but the impression of horror excited by his presence and his errand , remained upon the crowd of spectators . The unfortunate criminal , -- for so she must now be termed , -- with more susceptibility , and more irritable feelings than her father and sister , was found , in this emergence , to possess a considerable share of their courage .