midnight
Begone ; and consider yourself fortunate that instead of walking out a free man , you are not taken out to the punishment you deserve ! '' When Jeffreys , stunned and stupefied , looked up , the room was empty . Mechanically he finished a sentence he had been writing , then letting the pen drop from his hand , sat where he was , numbed body and soul . Mrs Rimbolt 's words dinned in his ears , and with them came those old haunting sounds , the yells on the Bolsover meadows , the midnight shriek of the terrified boy , the cold sneer of his guardian , the brutal laugh of Jonah Trimble . All came back in one confused hideous chorus , yelling to him that his bad name was alive still , dogging him down , down , mocking his foolish dreams of deliverance and hope , hounding him out into the night to hide his head indeed , but never to hide himself from himself . How long he sat there he knew not . When he rose he was at least calm and resolved .