evening, about nine o'clock
Of this Raeburn was perfectly aware ; and it required all his diligence , care , and attention , to avoid the visitation with which he was threatened . Such , we say , then , was the state of matters with Raeburn for about eighteen months after Fanny Rutherford 's death . At the expiry of this period , however , that event occurred which winds up this tragic tale . One evening , about nine o'clock , Raeburn was sitting solitary in his room , musing on the miseries to which his villany had subjected him , and no doubt indulging , as all villains do , in imaginary schemes of vengeance against his enemies , when a waiter from one of the hotels in town called , and said that a gentleman there desired to see him immediately on a matter of importance . Raeburn , conceiving that it might be on some official business that he was wanted , instantly repaired to the hotel , and was ushered into the room where the person was who wished to see him . That person kept his back towards Raeburn till he had fairly entered the apartment , and until the waiter who had shown him in had retired . This done , he suddenly rushed towards the door , snatching up at the same time one of a pair of pistols which lay on a table in the middle of the room , and having locked the door in the inside , he fiercely confronted Raeburn , who , horror-struck at the sight , instantly recognised , in the person before him , Edward Rutherford , the brother of the unfortunate Fanny .