midnight
`` The hour ? -- the precise minute ? '' asked Ranulph , eagerly . `` Troth , Sir Ranulph , as nearly as I can recollect , it might be a few minutes before midnight . '' `` The very hour ! '' exclaimed Ranulph , striding towards the window . His steps were arrested as his eye fell upon the attire of his father , which , as we have before noticed , hung at that end of the room .