midnight
For Mary Golfe had been buried in an English churchyard , months before ; and either it was her ghost that haunted the wild forest , or else a dream-like spirit , typifying pure Religion . Above a century afterwards , when the trackless forest of Richard Digby 's day had long been interspersed with settlements , the children of a neighboring farmer were playing at the foot of a hill . The trees , on account of the rude and broken surface of this acclivity , had never been felled , and were crowded so densely together as to hide all but a few rocky prominences , wherever their roots could grapple with the soil . A little boy and girl , to conceal themselves from their playmates , had crept into the deepest shade , where not only the darksome pines , but a thick veil of creeping plants suspended from an overhanging rock , combined to make a twilight at noonday , and almost a midnight at all other seasons . There the children hid themselves , and shouted , repeating the cry at intervals , till the whole party of pursuers were drawn thither , and , pulling aside the matted foliage , let in a doubtful glimpse of daylight . But scarcely was this accomplished , when the little group uttered a simultaneous shriek , and tumbled headlong down the hill , making the best of their way homeward , without a second glance into the gloomy recess . Their father , unable to comprehend what had so startled them , took his axe , and , by felling one or two trees , and tearing away the creeping plants , laid the mystery open to the day .