midnight
They were evident in all he said , and all that he did . Peter also loved the boy ; he said , `` Kit was an excellent laddie -- for his part , indeed , he never saw his equal . He had now brought him up for nine years , and he could safely say that he never had occasion to raise a hand to him -- indeed he did not remember the time that ever he had had occasion to speak an angry word to him ; and he declared that he should inherit all that he possessed , as though he had been his own son . '' Mrs Thornton often showed to him the rings which had been taken from his mother 's fingers , with the inscriptions thereon ; and on such occasions she would say , `` Weel do I remember , hinny , when our goodman came running into the house one morning , shaking as though he had seen an apparition at midnight , and crying to me , quite out o ' breath , ` Rise -- rise , Jenny ! -- here is the dead body o ' a woman in our stackyard ! ' I canna tell ye what my feelings were when he said so . I wished not to believe him .