about eight
o’clock at night
The old cat had a little girl , the orphan of some relation , who lived with her as a kind of slavish companion . I hope she has had the conscience to make her independent , in consideration of the peine forte et dure to which she subjected her during her lifetime . ' Three gentlemen now appeared , and were introduced to the stranger . They were men of good sense , gaiety , and general information , so that the day passed very pleasantly over ; and Colonel Mannering assisted , about eight o'clock at night , in discussing the landlord 's bottle , which was , of course , a magnum . Upon his return to the inn he found a card inviting him to the funeral of Miss Margaret Bertram , late of Singleside , which was to proceed from her own house to the place of interment in the Greyfriars churchyard at one o'clock afternoon . At the appointed hour Mannering went to a small house in the suburbs to the southward of the city , where he found the place of mourning indicated , as usual in Scotland , by two rueful figures with long black cloaks , white crapes and hat-bands , holding in their hands poles , adorned with melancholy streamers of the same description . By two other mutes , who , from their visages , seemed suffering under the pressure of some strange calamity , he was ushered into the dining-parlour of the defunct , where the company were assembled for the funeral .