midnight
Such mere operation of my own thoughts may be sufficient to account for it : I would only ask -- does any one know what the _ mere _ operation of his own thoughts signifies ? I can not isolate myself , especially in those moments when the individual will is less awake , from the ocean of life and thought which not only surrounds me , but on which I am in a sense one of the floating bubbles . I was asleep , but I thought I lay awake in bed -- in the room where I still slept -- that which had been my grannie 's . -- It was dark midnight , and the wind was howling about the gable and in the chimneys . The door opened , and some one entered . By the lamp she carried I knew my great-grandmother , -- just as she looked in life , only that now she walked upright and with ease . That I was dreaming is plain from the fact that I felt no surprise at seeing her .