about three o'clock
The thunder may drown his laugh . '' The faithful servant obeyed the command of his former mistress ; and , hastening as fast as his old limbs would enable him , mounted Marjory 's grey jennet , and was soon out in the midst of the storm . The only remaining servant left in the tower , besides the warder , was , at the same time , despatched , by his half-frantic mistress , to proceed on the road to Peebles , and reconnoitre the king 's company , and convey to her what intelligence he could learn in regard to its movements . By this time it was now about three o'clock ; but the morning was still dark , the storm had not abated , the rain still poured , the lightning flashed , and the neighbouring streams rolled over their rugged channels with a noise that equalled the thunder which yet shook the heavens . Marjory again took her seat on the casement ; and her fancy , stimulated by her fears , became again busy in the conjuration of images which , however fearful , unhappily stood too great a chance of being realized . The substratum of indisputable facts was itself a good foundation of fear : -- The king , angry , and breathing revenge against his rebellious subjects of the Border , was at hand -- even within a few miles of her husband 's residence ; and the ensign of his authority and punishment was borne by the common executioner ; then he would detect her husband in the very commission of that rebellious act against which the royal vengeance was to be directed ; and , above all , she feared -- nay , she was certain , from her knowledge of Henderland 's free , bold spirit , that he would disdain to fly , and would at once commit himself into the hands of a young incensed monarch , who had travelled forty miles for his blood . These were fearful , incontrovertible facts , and they were contemplated by a solitary female in the dark hour of night , in the midst of one of the fiercest storms that had ever visited that part of the country , and under the blue lights of a fancy that , in spite of the appeals of judgment , reverted to an old prophecy of a wonderful being , which seemed to have been respected even by the lightning of heaven : the elm still stood ; its brethren of the forest had fallen ; and the rope to be attached to it was on its way to Henderland .