midnight
asked she , curiously . `` That is why I came here . '' And again they walked on in silence . It was near midnight when they entered the large hall at Kvaerk . Aasa went before , still leading the young man by the hand . In the twilight which filled the house , the space between the black , smoky rafters opened a vague vista into the region of the fabulous , and every object in the room loomed forth from the dusk with exaggerated form and dimensions . The room appeared at first to be but the haunt of the spirits of the past ; no human voice , no human footstep , was heard ; and the stranger instinctively pressed the hand he held more tightly ; for he was not sure but that he was standing on the boundary of dream-land , and some elfin maiden had reached him her hand to lure him into her mountain , where he should live with her forever .