two o'clock
It was indeed a joyous moment when I made my first experiment , and felt my foot on the dewy grass , for I deemed that `` Then the world it was mine oyster , Which I with knife might open . '' Among these nightly rambles , there is one that will ever be , I should think , deeply impressed upon me . Everybody in the house had been in bed for hours . As I was far too restless to doze on the occasion , I had been stationary at the open window , counting the hours as they slowly passed , and it was now getting towards two o'clock , when I was to descend the ladder , already placed and hanging from the window . In those days I was rarely troubled by low spirits , but at the present moment , I must own , that they partook considerably of the gloominess of the hour , and the scenery around . The night was very dark , but I could just see the ghost-like masses of the gigantic elms , as they stood motionless against the gloomy sky , and could even hear the quiet rippling sound of the river as it glided along in the distance , the night was so very still . But all this now horribly contrasted with a scene I had witnessed but a few hours ago on the banks of that river now so deserted .