midnight
Still the hermit sat silent , his bowed head resting between his small , attenuated hands . Edgar rose , brought the long overcoat and spread it over his shoulders , as a protection from the increasing cold . Then wrapping a blanket around his own light form , he stole softly to the window , and turned his gaze upward to the star-lighted heaven . He dearly loved to sit thus through the hushed midnight hours , and listen to the deep , heavy roaring of the mighty winds , as they swept through the surrounding forest , while his soul seemed borne away on their rushing currents , up and upward till her pinions brushed the starry palaces of angels and beatified spirits ; and on , and on , with new splendors ever bursting on her ravished vision , till the elysium of light in the high heaven of heavens poured its bewildering glories upon her , and her weary wings fluttered to rest at last upon the bosom of the All-Holy . Edgar was possessed of a temperament of the most imaginative order , deeply imbued with lofty , poetic sentiment , and a tendency to reserve and melancholy . His father had been an artist , and the sunny skies of Italy cast their bright glory over his tender years , warming to impassioned ardor the springs and fountains of his youthful bosom . Very few boys of his age and acquirements could have endured the seclusion in which he had dwelt for the last six months ; but nothing could have been more consonant with the reserved , romantic disposition of Edgar ; and the prospect of leaving the wild hut in the forest to go forth among the wide world 's jostling crowds , caused him heart-throbbing pangs .