midnight
Truly , benevolence does cost a great deal ! `` My task is done ; my song hath ceased ; my theme Has died into an echo . It is fit The spell should break of this protracted dream . The torch shall be extinguished which hath lit My midnight lamp , -- and what is writ , is writ ; Would it were worthier , but I am not now That which I have been , and my visions flit Less palpably before me -- and the glow Which in my spirit dwelt , is fluttering , faint and low . '' The cousins , Alice Orville and Josephine Camford , sat together in a vine-clad arbor on the shore of Lake Erie . `` I can not express the joy I feel at beholding you again , dear Pheny ; learning of your welfare , and finding you so happy in the contemplation of the future , '' said Alice . `` None can tell what the future may bring , '' answered Josephine .