Two o'clock in the morning
All ended by a never-fading vision appearing to her -- an empty , sea-tossed wreck , slowly and gently rocked by the silent gray and rose-streaked sea ; almost with soft mockery , in the midst of the vast calm of deadened waters . Two o'clock in the morning . It was at night , especially , that she kept attentive to approaching footsteps ; at the slightest rumour or unaccustomed noise her temples vibrated ; by dint of being strained to outward things , they had become fearfully sensitive . Two o'clock in the morning . On this night as on others , with her hands clasped and her eyes wide open in the dark , she listened to the wind , sweeping in never-ending tumult over the heath . Suddenly a man 's footsteps hurried along the path ! At this hour who would pass now ?