midnight
`` I shall cut it deep , '' said Annie , `` so that it will live forever ; and I hope there will be neither mould nor moss upon it , to hide it from view , as I shall love to come and look upon when you are far away . '' `` Ann , '' said one , `` we will come here in the long summer days , and weave chaplets of the bright leaves of the old oak , and twine them round our lord 's name . '' This occupied their time till the shadows of evening fell around them , and it was dark when they reached their homes . It was midnight -- dark , dreary midnight . Black clouds hung in huge , portentous masses over , the vault of heaven . The forky lightning flashed , and the deep toned thunder reverberated peal on peal , while the shrieking winds rocked the tree tops , and poured their wild melody upon the ear . It was nature arrayed in awful sublimity , displaying the majesty of God .