midnight
While they were going up , Ruth was amazed to see how the garden and the beloved tree below became continually smaller and smaller ; how , by-and-by , she could only distinguish the house , and how that became dimmer and dimmer , until it entirely disappeared from her sight . Then she turned towards the old woman , and saw that her kind blue eyes lovingly regarded her ; and so she still more forgot the home below , where , without doubt , her departure would pass unnoticed . New objects began to attract her attention . The cloud on which they sat did not , like the others , just float over the earth , but it went proudly on , and came among the stars , and constellations of stars , and she saw how many were clustered together , and no tongue could describe their beauty ; and then the deep blue was ever about her , and she saw it away off in the distance , growing to a darker and darker shade , until it became like the air of midnight ; while ever from its darkness shone out those immense stars , and clusters of stars . Then the most beautiful sight of all was when some star glided past her , and shot afar off into the dark blue beyond -- there was such dazzling glory in it ! Sometimes they would be quite near enough to the stars they passed to discern the people who dwelt upon them , and she felt for them a friendship at once , and only longed that she might go down and tell them so . The child had forgotten she was plain and odd ; she did not think to ask herself whether the people on those bright stars , so beautiful and happy , might not repulse her for her homeliness .