midnight
Priscilla kept the fire alive . She laid the sticks and logs on cautiously ; she turned wide eyes now and again on the tall clock whose white face gleamed pallidly among the shadows like a dead thing that had used its last breath to speak a message . If the clock struck again Priscilla felt that she might go mad . It was after midnight when Nature laid a commanding and relentless touch upon the girl , and , crouching by the hearth , her head in her arms folded upon a chair , she slept . Outside the storm sobbed itself into silence ; the rain dripped complainingly from the roof of the porch and then ceased . At five o'clock the new day , rosy and full of cheer , made itself felt in the dim room where Priscilla , breathing evenly and softly , still slept . No gleam of brightness made its way through the heavy shutters or curtains , but a consciousness of day at last roused the sleeper .