midnight
It snapt in the blow , as if more honorable than its master , it could not survive so foul a stain . What arm should wield it save his own ? '' A universal murmur of execration , acknowledged this convincing evidence ; doubly confirmed , as it seemed to be by the fearful start and muttered exclamation , on the part of the prisoner the moment it was produced . The nobles thronged round the King , some entreating him to sentence the midnight assassin to instant execution ; others , to retain him in severest imprisonment till the proofs of his guilt could be legally examined , and the whole European World hear of the crime , and its chastisement ; lest they should say that as a foreigner , justice was refused to him . To this opinion the King leaned . `` Ye counsel well and wisely , my lords , '' he said . `` It shall not be said , because the murdered was our subject , and the murderer an alien , that he was condemned without examination of proofs against him , or being heard in his own defence .