midnight
All his nearest friends were gathered round him , and to the end he was clearly conscious and , as in life , calmly philosophical . `` I have been well ` friended ' all my life , '' he said once , looking round at the faces by his bedside . They were all too broken-hearted to respond , and there were long silences , broken only by the laboring breath and restless movements of the dying man . Toward midnight there was a low roll of distant thunder , and gradually the storm drew nearer and nearer . Raeburn asked to be raised in bed that he might watch the lightning which was unusually beautiful . It was a strange , weird scene the plainly furnished hotel room , sparsely lighted by candles , the sad group of watchers , the pale , beautiful face of the young girl bending over the pillow , and the strong , rugged Scotchman with his white hair and keen brown eyes , upon whose face death had already set his pale tokens . From the uncurtained window could be seen the dark outline of the adjacent houses and the lights lower down the hill scattered here and there throughout the sleeping city .