midnight
Fear and surprise now yielded to the enchantment of a strain , that floated on the silent night , with the most soft and melancholy sweetness . Suddenly , it seemed removed to a distance , trembled faintly , and then entirely ceased . She continued to listen , sunk in that pleasing repose , which soft music leaves on the mind -- but it came no more . Upon this strange circumstance her thoughts were long engaged , for strange it certainly was to hear music at midnight , when every inhabitant of the castle had long since retired to rest , and in a place , where nothing like harmony had been heard before , probably , for many years . Long suffering had made her spirits peculiarly sensible to terror , and liable to be affected by the illusions of superstition . -- It now seemed to her , as if her dead father had spoken to her in that strain , to inspire her with comfort and confidence , on the subject , which had then occupied her mind . Yet reason told her , that this was a wild conjecture , and she was inclined to dismiss it ; but , with the inconsistency so natural , when imagination guides the thoughts , she then wavered towards a belief as wild .