midnight
But John would not hear of any such arrangement ; he insisted upon bearing his share of the watching and stoutly refused to leave the squire alone . There was a large dressing-room attached to the room where Goddard was lying ; the squire and John finally agreed to watch turn and turn about , one remaining with Goddard , while the other rested upon the couch in the dressing-room aforesaid . The squire insisted upon taking his watch first , and John lay down . It was past midnight and he was very tired , but it seemed impossible to sleep with the sound of that loud , monotonous mumbling perpetually in his ears . It was a horrible night , and John Short never forgot it so long as he lived . Years afterwards he could not enter the room where Goddard had lain without fancying he heard that perpetual groaning still ringing in his ears . For many hours it continued unabated and unchanging , never dying away to silence nor developing to articulate words .