midnight
Mr. Pen , however , was resolved that death must be his doom in case of disappointment , and rather than this -- rather than balk him , in fact -- this lady would have submitted to any sacrifice or personal pain , and would have gone down on her knees and have kissed the feet of a Hottentot daughter-in-law . Arthur knew his power over the widow , and the young tyrant was touched while he exercised it . In those two days he brought her almost into submission , and patronized her very kindly ; and he passed one evening with the lovely pie-maker at Chatteries , in which he bragged of his influence over his mother ; and he spent the other night in composing a most flaming and conceited copy of verses to his divinity , in which he vowed , like Montrose , that he would make her famous with his sword and glorious by his pen , and that he would love her as no mortal woman had been adored since the creation of womankind . It was on that night , long after midnight , that wakeful Helen , passing stealthily by her son 's door , saw a light streaming through the chink of the door into the dark passage , and heard Pen tossing and tumbling , and mumbling verses in his bed . She waited outside for a while , anxiously listening to him . In infantile fevers and early boyish illnesses , many a night before , the kind soul had so kept watch . She turned the lock very softly now , and went in so gently , that Pen for a moment did not see her .