midnight
And may the blood of our enemy Roderic be the last that it will drink . '' Kenric took old Elspeth back with him to Rothesay , and there , as she would not agree to take up her quarters within the castle , he gave her a little cottage , bidding her remain there in comfort for the rest of her days . As to Aasta the Fair , he had no doubt in his mind that on being told that she was his own cousin , she would yield to him when he asked her to make the castle of Rothesay her home , and he at once besought his mother to make preparations to receive her . Late in the evening , the moon being at the full , Allan and Ailsa Redmain , with Margery de Currie , set out , attended by two armed guards , for the chapel of St. Blane 's , where midnight mass was to be celebrated for the dying year . Kenric , less cheerful than his three companions , went with them but a little distance . Leaving them to continue their way through the dingle of Lochly , he branched off eastward towards Ascog . He wended his way across the bare hard land , walking with rapid strides , for the night was bitterly cold , and the wintry wind made his cheeks tingle as he bent before it .