midnight
She might have been provisioning for a siege . Mrs. Jack 's chickens were flanked by a coarse bit of American bacon ; here was a piece of salt ling , there some potatoes in a sack ; a slice of salt butter was side by side with a griddle cake . Many a good woman appreciated the waste of good food even while she added to it , and sighed after that full larder for the benefit of her man and the weans at home ; but all the time there was the dancing marsh-light of Margret 's money luring the good souls on . There had never been any organised robbery in the Island since the cattle-lifting of the kernes long ago ; but many a good woman fell of a tremble now when she thought of Margret and her ` stocking ' alone through the silent night , and at the mercy of midnight robbers . There was not a day that several offerings were not laid at Margret 's feet . But suddenly she changed her stereotyped form of thanks to a mysterious utterance , ` You 're maybe feeding more than you know , kind neighbours , ' was the dark saying that set the women conjecturing about Margret 's sanity . Then the bolt fell .