midnight
Few sensations are more acutely painful than the exercise of the hearing when pushed to intensity . The unceasing effort to catch the slightest sound soon becomes fatigue , and as the organ grows weary , the mental anxiety grows more acute ; and then begins a struggle between the failing sense and the excited brain . The spectral images of the eye in fever are not one half so terrible as the strange discordant tones that jar upon the tympanum in such a state as this . Each inanimate object seems endowed with its own power of voice , and whispering noises come stealing through the dead silence of midnight . In this state of almost frenzied anxiety I sat long , -- my eyes turned towards the door , which oftentimes I fancied I could perceive to move . At length the thought occurred to me , that by affecting sleep , if any one lay concealed within whose object was to enter the room , this would probably induce him . -LSB- Illustration : 089 -RSB- -LSB- Illustration : BrowneLocomotiveChair055 -RSB- I had not long to wait for the success of my scheme .