midnight
He did not try to reason with her at that moment , for he saw it would be in vain , but drawing her kindly towards him , he told her he was sorry for her . His words , like `` flaky snow in the day of the sun , '' melted as they fell and sunk into her heart , and she began to weep . He knew that her mother could not live long , and wishing to withdraw her from a scene which might give a shock from which her nerves would long vibrate , he committed her to the care of a neighbor , who took her to her own home . Mrs. Gleason died at midnight , while Helen lay in a deep sleep , unconscious of the deeper slumbers that wrapped the dead . And now a terrible trial awaited her . She had never looked on the face of death , and she shrunk from the thought with a dread which no language can express . When her father , sad and silent , with knit brow and quivering lip , led her to the chamber where her mother lay , she resisted his guidance , and declared she would never , never go in _ there _ .