midnight
There were stars , wheels , festoons , and leaves , all in fire . In the center burned a rich transparency , exhibiting the arms of the Brudenells . During this illumination none of the family appeared in front , as their forms must have obscured a portion of the lights . It lasted some ten or fifteen minutes , and then suddenly went out , and everything was again dark as midnight . Suddenly from the center of the lawn streamed up a rocket , lighting up with a lurid fire all the scene -- the mansion-house with the family and their more honored guests now seated upon the upper piazza , the crowds of men , women , and children , white , black , and mixed , that stood with upturned faces in the lawn , the distant knoll on which were grouped the sisters and their protector , the more distant forests and the tops of remote hills , which all glowed by night in this red glare . This seeming conflagration lasted a minute , and then all was darkness again . This rocket was but the signal for the commencement of the fireworks on the lawn .