midnight
My mind lay hushed in its design . `` The Moon came out , but with a pale and sickly countenance . Winter was around the earth ; the snow , which had been falling towards eve , lay deep upon the ground ; and the Frost seemed to lock the Universal Nature into the same calm and deadness which had taken possession of my soul . `` Houseman was to have come to me at midnight , just before Clarke left his house , but it was nearly two hours after that time ere he arrived . I was then walking to and fro before my own door ; I saw that he was not alone , but with Clarke . ` Ha ! ' said he , ` this is fortunate , I see you are just going home .