midnight
`` Aye -- a ' nicht whiles , whan naebody was aboot ` cep ' the win ' . '' He pronounced the word with a long drawn imitative sough -- `` an ' the cloods an ' the splash o ' the watter . '' Pining under the closer imprisonment in his garret , which the discovery of his subterranean refuge had brought upon him , the laird would often have made his escape at night but for the fear of disturbing the Mairs ; and now that there was no one to disturb , the temptation to spend his nights in the open air was the more irresistible that he had conceived the notion of enticing nature herself into his very chamber . Abroad then he had gone , as soon as the first midnight closed around his new dwelling , and in the fields had with careful discrimination begun to collect the mould for his mound , a handful here and a handful there . This took him several nights , and when it was finished , he was yet more choice in his selection of turf , taking it from the natural grass growing along the roads and on the earthen dykes , or walls , the outer sides of which feed the portionless cows of that country . Searching for miles in the moonlight , he had , with eye and hand , chosen out patches of this grass , the shortest and thickest he could find , and with a pocket knife , often in pieces of only a few inches , removed the best of it and carried it home , to be fitted on the heap , and with every ministration and blandishment enticed to flourish . He pressed it down with soft firm hands , and beshowered it with water first warmed a little in his mouth ; when the air was soft , he guided the wind to blow upon it ; and as the sun could not reach it where it lay , he gathered a marvellous heap of all the bright sherds he could find -- of crockery and glass and mirror , so arranging them in the window , that each threw its tiny reflex upon the turf .