noon
All the customary amusements of the people had died away . Almost every house had a lonely and deserted look ; for it was known that one or more beloved beings had gone out of it to the grave . A dark , heartless spirit was abroad . The whole land , in fact , mourned , and nothing on which the eye could rest , bore a green or a thriving look , or any symptom of activity , but the churchyards , and here the digging and delving were incessant -- at the early twilight , during the gloomy noon , the dreary dusk , and the still more funeral looking light of the midnight taper . The first days of the assizes were now near , and among all those who awaited them , there was none whose fate excited so profound an interest as that of old Condy Dalton . His family had now recovered from their terrible sufferings , and were able to visit him in his prison -- a privilege which was awarded to them as a mark of respect for their many virtues , and of sympathy for their extraordinary calamities and trials . They found him resigned to his fate , but stunned with wonder at the testimony on which he was likely to be convicted .