midnight
With a vital recognition of law , and great loyalty to any utterance of either parent , she had yet been brought up in an atmosphere of such liberty , that except a thing were expressly so conditioned , or in itself appeared questionable , she never dreamed of asking permission to do it ; and , accustomed as she had been to go with the laird everywhere , and to be out with him early and late , her conscience never suggested the possibility of any objection to her getting up at twelve , instead of four or five , to accompany him . It was some time , however , before the laird himself would consent ; and then he would not unfrequently interpose with limitations , especially , if the night were not mild and dry , sending her always home again to bed . The mutual rule and obedience between them was something at once strange and lovely . At midnight Phemy would enter the shop , and grope her way until she stood under the trapdoor . This was the nearest she could come to the laird 's chamber , for he had not only declined having the ladder stand there for his use , but had drawn a solemn promise from the carpenter that at night it should always be left slung up to the joists . For himself he had made a rope ladder , which he could lower from beneath when he required it , invariably drew up after him , and never used for coming down . One night Phemy made her customary signal by knocking against the trapdoor with a long slip of wood : it opened , and , as usual , the body of the laird appeared , hung for a moment in the square gap , like a huge spider , by its two hands , one on each side , then dropped straight to the floor , when , without a word , he hastened forth , and Phemy followed .