midnight before
She rose , placed her hands on his shoulders , and kissed him . Nothing more was said . Gilbert raked the ashes over the smouldering embers on the hearth , lighted his mother 's night-lamp , and after closing the chamber-door softly behind her , stole up-stairs to his own bed . It was long past midnight before he slept . On the same evening , a scene of a very different character occurred , in which certain personages of this history were actors . In order to describe it , we must return to the company of sportsmen whom Gilbert Potter left at the Hammer-and-Trowel Tavern , late in the afternoon . No sooner had he departed than the sneers of the young bucks , who felt themselves humiliated by his unexpected success , became loud and frequent .