midnight
I heard them in abysses , upon peaks , and in wildernesses . They trod upon my nerves ; they crushed sleep from my soul . I closed my ears in vain ; I fled without refuge ; I prayed without avail . The patter of little children , the footfall of the maiden , the elastic pace of the youth , the racking limp of the cripple , the veteran hobbling upon his wooden stump , the confused tread of crowds , the steady tramp of soldiers -- these tortured me by daylight , and I kept penance at midnight with the going of outcasts and vagrants . `` I learned to classify these footfalls . My sensations of them were so keen that my memory retained them . I recognized individuals , not by their faces but by their feet .