midnight
Now and again , from beyond the veiling walls came the tramp of men ; once , three or four brisk notes blown on a horn ; once , the sudden rumble of a drum ; and once , when the silence grew profound , three or four blows of iron on wood . But at that the murmur rose into a groan and drowned it again ... . So the minutes passed ... . Since soon after midnight the folks had been gathering here . Many had not slept all night , ever since the report had run like fire through the little town last evening , that the sentence had been delivered to the prisoner . From that time onwards the road that led down past the Castle had never been empty . It was now moving on to dawn , the late dawn of February ; and every instant the scene grew more distinct .