midnight
The night was stormy ; the wind had been rising at intervals the whole afternoon ; and by the time the party broke up , it blew and rained violently . Catherine , as she crossed the hall , listened to the tempest with sensations of awe ; and , when she heard it rage round a corner of the ancient building and close with sudden fury a distant door , felt for the first time that she was really in an abbey . Yes , these were characteristic sounds ; they brought to her recollection a countless variety of dreadful situations and horrid scenes , which such buildings had witnessed , and such storms ushered in ; and most heartily did she rejoice in the happier circumstances attending her entrance within walls so solemn ! She had nothing to dread from midnight assassins or drunken gallants . Henry had certainly been only in jest in what he had told her that morning . In a house so furnished , and so guarded , she could have nothing to explore or to suffer , and might go to her bedroom as securely as if it had been her own chamber at Fullerton . Thus wisely fortifying her mind , as she proceeded upstairs , she was enabled , especially on perceiving that Miss Tilney slept only two doors from her , to enter her room with a tolerably stout heart ; and her spirits were immediately assisted by the cheerful blaze of a wood fire .