midnight
She was , however , strengthened against his arts and machinations ; but her fortitude , instead of repressing the rigour of his persecutions , only made him more audacious , in so much that she was terrified to trust herself unguarded out of the house , -- and the ire of every man and woman was rising against the sensual Swaby , who was so destitute of grace and human charity . But out of this a mean was raised , that in the end made him fain to be removed from among us . For all the immoral bravery of the rampant soldiery , and especially of their libertine commander , they had not been long among us till it was discerned that they were as much under the common fears and superstitions as the most credulous of our simple country folk , in so much that what with our family devotions and the tales of witches and warlocks with which every one , as if by concert , delighted to awe them , they were loth to stir out of their quarters after the gloaming . Swaby , however , though less under those influences than his men , nevertheless partook largely of them , and would not at the King 's commands , it was thought , have crossed the kirk-stile at midnight . But though he was thus infirm with the dread of evil spirits , he was not daunted thereby from ill purposes ; and having one day fallen in with old Mysie Gilmour on the road , a pawkie carlin of a jocose nature , he entered into a blethering discourse with her anent divers things , and from less to more , propounded to honest Mysie that she should lend a cast of her skill to bring about a secret meeting between him and the bonny , defenceless Martha Swinton . Mysie Gilmour was a Christian woman , and her soul was troubled with the proposal to herself , and for the peril with which she saw her minister 's daughter environed . But she put on the mask of a light hypocrisy , and said she would maybe do something if he fee 'd her well , making a tryst with him for the day following ; purposing in the meanwhile , instead of furthering his wicked ends , to devise , with the counselling of some of her acquaintances , in what manner she could take revenge upon the profligate prodigal for having thought so little of her principle , merely because she was a lanerly widow bent with age and poortith .