midnight
What is the matter with my poor child ? '' And Gertrude unburdened her heart to Emily , disclosing to her the only secret she had ever kept from her ; and Emily wept as she listened , and when Gertrude had finished she pressed her again and again to her heart , exclaiming with an excitement which Gertrude had never before witnessed in the usually placid blind girl , `` Strange , strange , that you , too , should be thus doomed ! Oh , Gertrude , my darling , we may well weep together ; but still , believe me , your sorrow is less bitter than mine ! '' And then in the darkness of that midnight hour was Gertrude 's confidence rewarded by the revelation of that tale of grief and woe which twenty years before had blighted Emily 's youth , and which was still vivid to her recollection casting over her life a dark shadow , of which her blindness was but a single feature . `` I was younger than you , Gertrude , '' said she , `` when my trial came , and hardly the same person in any respect that I have been since you first knew me . My mother died when I was too young to retain any recollection of her ; but my father soon married again , and in that step-parent I found a love and care which fully compensated my loss . I can recall her now as she looked towards the latter part of her life -- a tall , delicate , feeble woman , with a very sweet face .