eleven o'clock at night
The church in which the corpse was buried , was hung with black cloth ; and even the innumerable wax tapers which burned upon the altar and around the coffin failed to diminish the lugubrious aspect of the scene . At the head of the bier stood the youthful heir of Riverola ; his pale countenance of even feminine beauty contrasting strangely with the mourning garments which he wore , and his eyes bent upon the dark chasm that formed the family vault into which the remains of his sire were about to be lowered . Around the coffin stood Dr. Duras and other male friends of the deceased : for the females of the family were not permitted , by the custom of the age and the religion , to be present on occasions of this kind . It was eleven o'clock at night : and the weather without was stormy and tempestuous . The wind moaned through the long aisles , raising strange and ominous echoes , and making the vast folds of sable drapery wave slowly backward and forward , as if agitated by unseen hands . A few spectators , standing in the background , appeared like grim figures on a black tapestry ; and the gleam of the wax tapers , oscillating on their countenances , made them seem death-like and ghastly . From time to time the shrill wail of the shriek-owl , and the flapping of its wings against the diamond-paned windows of the church , added to the awful gloom of the funeral scene .