midnight
Nay , by what I have already spoken , I have put myself in your hands . All that you have to do is simply to rise in your place on the Sabbath morn and tell the congregation what I have told you -- that the minister of the Marrow kirk in Dullarg is a man rebuking sin when his own hearthstone is unclean -- a man irregularly espoused , who wrongfully christened his own unacknowledged child . '' Allan Welsh laid his brow against the hard wood of the study table as though to cool it . `` No , '' he continued , looking Ralph in the face , as the midnight hummed around , and the bats softly fluttered like gigantic moths outside , `` your father is silent for the sake of the good name of the Marrow kirk ; but this thing shall never be said of his own son , and the only hope of the Marrow kirk -- the lad she has colleged and watched and prayed for -- not only the two congregations of Edinburgh and the Dullarg contributing yearly out of their smallest pittances , but the faithful single members and adherents throughout broad Scotland -- many of whom are coming to Edinburgh at the time of our oncoming synod , in order to be present at it , and at the communion when I shall assist your father . '' `` But why can not I marry Winsome Charteris , even though she be your daughter , as you say ? '' asked Ralph . `` O young man , '' said the minister , `` ken ye so little about the kirk o ' the Marrow , and the respect for her that your father and myself cherish for the office of her ministry , that ye think that we could permit a probationer , on trials for the highest office within her gift , to connect himself by tie , bond , or engagement with the daughter of an unblest marriage ?