midnight
`` Help us , Thou above -- and help him most , he has had so much adversity in these last days . '' But the starry vault seems icy cold -- it has heard the prayers of millions and millions before -- the hearts of men are nothing to the universe . Merle drooped her head and went in again to the house . It was midnight when Peer drove up the hill towards his home . The sight of the great house with its brilliantly lighted windows jarred so cruelly on his wearied mind that he involuntarily gave the horse a cut with his whip . He flung the reins to the stable-boy who had come out with a lantern , and walked up the steps , moving almost with a feeling of awe in this great house , as if it already belonged to someone else . He opened the door of the drawing-room -- no one there , but light , light and comfort .