Midnight
She recognized their right most fully to careful and polite consideration ; she had striven to cultivate among them gentility of deportment ; but she had longed with a hungry yearning for friendly white faces , and the warm hands and hearts of friendly associates . Her chief recreation in this impalpable loneliness -- this Chillon of the heart in which she had been bound so long -- was in daily rides upon her horse , Midnight . Even in her New England home she had been passionately fond of a horse , and while at school had been carefully trained in horsemanship , being a prime favorite with the old French riding-master who had charge of that branch of education in the seminary of her native town . Midnight , coming to her from the dying hand of her only brother , had been to her a sacred trust and a pet of priceless value . All her pride and care had centered upon him , and never had horse received more devoted attention . As a result , horse and rider had become very deeply attached to each other . Each knew and appreciated the other 's good qualities and varying moods .