midnight
I sat up erect and collected my thoughts as best I could after so strange a journey . And I wondered why it was that no one had ever prepared a primer of imaginary geography , giving to airy nothings a local habitation and a name , and accompanying it with an atlas of maps in the manner of the _ Carte du Pays de Tendre _ . -LRB- 1894 . -RRB- As the twelfth stroke of the bell in the tower at the corner tolled forth slowly , the midnight wind blew chill down the deserted avenue , and swept it clear of all belated wayfarers . The bare trees in the thin strip of park clashed their lifeless branches ; the river far below slipped along silently . There was no moon , and the stars were shrouded . It was a black night .