midnight
No scene like this to-night would ever mar the heaven of our wedded bliss . '' Ernest did not know himself . Even in Crusoe 's desert isle , if the print of human footsteps were discovered on the sand , and had he flown to the uttermost parts of the earth , the phantom created by his own diseased imagination would have pursued him like the giant form that haunted from pole to pole the unhappy Frankenstein . Man can not escape from his own passions ; and in solitude their waves beat against his bosom , like the eternal dashing of the tide , scarcely perceived amidst the active sounds of day , but roaring and thundering in the deep stillness of the midnight hour . `` We were happy here before Margaret came , '' I answered ; `` happy as it was possible for mortals to be . How strange that she should have come unasked , remain unurged , without dreaming of the possibility of her being otherwise than a welcome guest ! '' `` There should be laws to prevent households from such intrusions , '' said Ernest , with warmth .