midnight
The golden feathers of its inmate gleamed out beautifully from among the leaves and crimson flowers ; for the genial warmth seemed to have brought all the buds into blossom at once , and there was a perfect flush of them among the glossy and deep green leaves . As if quite conscious that there was a birth-day developing in all these cheerful preparations , the bird was in a joyous state of excitement , and seemed to enter , with all its little musical soul , into the spirit of the thing . Instead of going sleepily to his perch as the sun went down , he kept chirping about , hopping hither and thither , flinging off the husks from his seed on the bottom of the cage , or standing on his perch with his head on one side , and eyeing the tea roses askance , as if questioning them regarding this unusual commotion . Then , as if satisfied with the blushing silence of the flowers , he would hop upon his perch and break into a gush of song that made the leaves around him tremble again , having , to all appearances , made up his birdly mind not to give up before midnight at the furthest . Now everything was ready , save some petty arrangements of the table-top which were in a state of progression . Mary Fuller , arrayed in a Marino dress , almost as good as new , and with her hair neatly braided , was busy with Isabel 's curls , rolling their glossy blackness delightedly around her finger , and dropping them in shining masses over those dimpled shoulders , with far more exulting pride than the little beauty felt herself . She was a lovely creature , that fair Isabel , more beautiful from contrast with the sallow child that bent over her .