midnight
My heart faultered with a consciousness of wrong . Heaven seemed to be present and to disapprove my work ; I listened to the thunder and the wind , as to the stern voice of this disapprobation . Big drops stood on my forehead , and my tremors almost incapacitated me from proceeding . These impediments however I surmounted ; I crept up stairs at midnight , and entered my father 's chamber . The darkness was intense and I sought with outstretched hands for his bed . The darkness , added to the trepidation of my thoughts , disabled me from making a right estimate of distances : I was conscious of this , and when I advanced within the room , paused . I endeavoured to compare the progress I had made with my knowledge of the room , and governed by the result of this comparison , proceeded cautiously and with hands still outstretched in search of the foot of the bed .