midnight
Here would their faithful knights return laden with the spoils of the chase , or with some gay tale of danger dared , encountered , and conquered ; here would the song send its full tone amid the responding echoes . The harp and muse of Nigel gave a refinement and delicacy to these meetings , marking them , indeed , the days of chivalry and poetry . Even Edward Bruce , the stern , harsh , dark , passioned warrior , even he felt the magic of the hour , and now that the courage of Nigel had been proved , gave willing ear , and would be among the first to bid him wake his harp , and soothe the troubled visions of the hour ; and Robert , who saw so much of his own soul reflected in his young brother , mingled as it was with yet more impassioned fervor , more beautiful , more endearing qualities , for Nigel had needed not trial to purify his soul , and mark him out a patriot . Robert , in very truth , loved him , and often would share with him his midnight couch , his nightly watchings , that he might confide to that young heart the despondency , the hopelessness , that to none other might be spoken , none other might suspect -- the secret fear that his crime would be visited on his unhappy country , and he forbidden to secure her freedom even by the sacrifice of his life . `` If it be so , it must be so ; then be thou her savior , her deliverer , my Nigel , '' he would often urge ; `` droop not because I may have departed ; struggle on , do as thy soul prompts , and success will , nay , must attend thee ; for thou art pure and spotless , and well deserving of all the glory , the blessedness , that will attend the sovereign of our country freed from chains ; thou art , in truth , deserving of all this , but I -- '' `` Peace , peace , my brother ! '' would be Nigel 's answer ; `` thou , only thou shalt deliver our country , shall be her free , her patriot king ! Have we not often marked the glorious sun struggling with the black masses of clouds which surround and obscure his rising , struggling , and in vain , to penetrate their murky folds , and deluge the world with light , shining a brief moment , and then immersed in darkness , until , as he nears the western horizon , the heaviest clouds flee before him , the spotless azure spreadeth its beautiful expanse , the brilliant rays dart on every side , warming and cheering the whole earth with reviving beams , and finally sinking to his rest in a flood of splendor , more dazzling , more imposing than ever attends his departure when his dawn hath been one of joy .