midnight
It was like the closing of a dark abyss -- there was _ terra firma _ , where an awful chasm had been . There was more terror to her in the vitality burning in her own heart , than in that poor , enfeebled form . How strong were its pulsations ! how loud they sounded in the midnight stillness ! -- louder than the death-watch that ticked by the hearth . To escape from the beatings of `` this muffled drum '' of life , she went to the window , and partly drawing aside the curtain , breathed on a pane of glass , so that the gauzy web the frost had woven might melt away and admit the vertical rays of the midnight moon . How beautiful , how resplendent was the scene that was spread out before her !