midnight
To the left and north lay low , marshy , meadow land , covered with rank grass and frosted with saline incrustations ; while south of the building extended spacious grounds , studded here and there with noble groups of deodars , Norway spruce , and various ornamental shrubs , and bounded by a tall impenetrable hedge of osage orange . Before the house , which faced the ocean and fronted east , the lawn sloped gently down to a terrace surmounted by a granite balustrade ; and just beyond , supported by stone piers on the golden sands , stood an octagonal boat-house , built in the Swiss style , with red-tiled roof , and floored with squares of white and black marble , whence a flight of steps led to the little boat chained to one of the rocky piers . Along the entire length of the terrace a line of giant poplars lifted their aged , weather-beaten heads , high above all surrounding objects , -- ever on the _ qui vive _ , looking seaward , -- trim and erect as soldiers on dress parade , and defiant of gales that had shorn them of many boughs , and left ghastly scars on their glossy limbs . Tradition whispered , with bated breath , that in the dim dawn of colonial settlement a rude log hut had been erected here by pirates , who came ashore to bury their ill-gotten booty , and rumors were rife of bloody deeds and midnight orgies , -- all of which sprang into more vigorous circulation , when , in laying the foundations of the boat-house piers , an iron pot containing a number of old French and Spanish coins was dug out of the shells and sand . Melancholy tales of stranded vessels and drowned crews , of a slaver burned to the water 's edge to escape capture , and of charred corpses strewn on the beach , thickened the atmosphere of legendary gloom that enveloped the spot , -- where the successive demise of several proprietors certainly sanctioned the feeling of dread and superstitious distrust with which it was regarded . That the unenviable celebrity it had attained was referable to local causes generating disease , appeared almost incredible ; for , if miasmatic exhalations rose dank and poisonous from the densely shaded humid house , they were promptly dispelled by the strong , invincible ocean-breeze , which tore aside leafy branches and muslin curtains , and wafted all noxious vapors inland . A committee of medical sages having cautiously examined the place , unanimously averred that its reputed fatality could not justly be ascribed to any topographical causes .