midnight
All persuasion was in vain , and Duncan issued his mandate for execution on the succeeding morning . The child of guilt and misery was separated from his companions , strongly pinioned , and committed to a separate room , of which the Captain kept the key . In the silence of the night , however , Mrs. Butler arose , resolved , if possible , to avert , at least to delay , the fate which hung over her nephew , especially if , upon conversing with him , she should see any hope of his being brought to better temper . She had a master-key that opened every lock in the house ; and at midnight , when all was still , she stood before the eyes of the astonished young savage , as , hard bound with cords , he lay , like a sheep designed for slaughter , upon a quantity of the refuse of flax which filled a corner in the apartment . Amid features sunburnt , tawny , grimed with dirt , and obscured by his shaggy hair of a rusted black colour , Jeanie tried in vain to trace the likeness of either of his very handsome parents . Yet how could she refuse compassion to a creature so young and so wretched , -- so much more wretched than even he himself could be aware of , since the murder he had too probably committed with his own hand , but in which he had at any rate participated , was in fact a parricide ? She placed food on a table near him , raised him , and slacked the cords on his arms , so as to permit him to feed himself .