midnight
Was it the first time that these strings of wampum had ever rattled upon her neck and arms ? And could it be that the plume of eagle 's feathers with which they crowned her dark , fast-lengthening locks had never shadowed her forehead until now ? She felt herself carried back into the dim ages when the wilderness was yet untrodden save by the feet of its native lords . Think of her wild fancy as we may , she felt as if that dusky woman of her midnight vision on the river were breathing for one hour through her lips . If this belief had lasted , it is plain enough where it would have carried her . But it came into her imagination and vivifying consciousness with the putting on of her unwonted costume , and might well leave her when she put it off . It is not for us , who tell only what happened , to solve these mysteries of the seeming admission of unhoused souls into the fleshly tenements belonging to air-breathing personalities .