midnight
Tears , at length , came to her relief , after indulging which , her spirits becoming calmer , she ceased to tremble at a view of evils , that might never arrive ; and had sufficient resolution to endeavour to withdraw her thoughts from the contemplation of her own interests . Remembering the few books , which even in the hurry of her departure from Udolpho she had put into her little package , she sat down with one of them at her pleasant casement , whence her eyes often wandered from the page to the landscape , whose beauty gradually soothed her mind into gentle melancholy . Here , she remained alone , till evening , and saw the sun descend the western sky , throw all his pomp of light and shadow upon the mountains , and gleam upon the distant ocean and the stealing sails , as he sunk amidst the waves . Then , at the musing hour of twilight , her softened thoughts returned to Valancourt ; she again recollected every circumstance , connected with the midnight music , and all that might assist her conjecture , concerning his imprisonment at the castle , and , becoming confirmed in the supposition , that it was his voice she had heard there , she looked back to that gloomy abode with emotions of grief and momentary regret . Refreshed by the cool and fragrant air , and her spirits soothed to a state of gentle melancholy by the still murmur of the brook below and of the woods around , she lingered at her casement long after the sun had set , watching the valley sinking into obscurity , till only the grand outline of the surrounding mountains , shadowed upon the horizon , remained visible . But a clear moonlight , that succeeded , gave to the landscape , what time gives to the scenes of past life , when it softens all their harsher features , and throws over the whole the mellowing shade of distant contemplation . The scenes of La Vallée , in the early morn of her life , when she was protected and beloved by parents equally loved , appeared in Emily 's memory tenderly beautiful , like the prospect before her , and awakened mournful comparisons .