midnight
`` No inhabitant of this castle could utter such ; and , where is the feeling , that could modulate such exquisite expression ? We all know , that it has been affirmed celestial sounds have sometimes been heard on earth . Father Pierre and Father Antoine declared , that they had sometimes heard them in the stillness of night , when they alone were waking to offer their orisons to heaven . Nay , my dear father himself , once said , that , soon after my mother 's death , as he lay watchful in grief , sounds of uncommon sweetness called him from his bed ; and , on opening his window , he heard lofty music pass along the midnight air . It soothed him , he said ; he looked up with confidence to heaven , and resigned her to his God . '' Emily paused to weep at this recollection . `` Perhaps , '' resumed she , `` perhaps , those strains I heard were sent to comfort , -- to encourage me !