midnight
Or , perhaps , he might see her gentle and sweet face smiling down upon him , midway towards heaven , as if she had flown thither for a day or two , just to visit her kindred , but had been drawn earthward again by the spell of unacknowledged love . But his eyes were blessed by no such fair vision or reality ; nor , in truth , were the eager , unquiet flutterings of the doves indicative of any joyful intelligence , which they longed to share with Hilda 's friend , but of anxious inquiries that they knew not how to utter . They could not tell , any more than he , whither their lost companion had withdrawn herself , but were in the same void despondency with him , feeling their sunny and airy lives darkened and grown imperfect , now that her sweet society was taken out of it . In the brisk morning air , Kenyon found it much easier to pursue his researches than at the preceding midnight , when , if any slumberers heard the clamor that he made , they had responded only with sullen and drowsy maledictions , and turned to sleep again . It must be a very dear and intimate reality for which people will be content to give up a dream . When the sun was fairly up , however , it was quite another thing . The heterogeneous population , inhabiting the lower floor of the old tower , and the other extensive regions of the palace , were now willing to tell all they knew , and imagine a great deal more .