midnight
She flung her feeble arms around the neck of her child , who now wept upon her bosom , and exclaimed , `` Oh ! my Elizabeth , who will protect you now , my poor , poor orphan ? '' Mrs. Douglas sprang to her assistance . She said she had much to tell , and endeavoured to speak ; but a gurgling sound only was heard in her throat ; she panted for breath ; the rosy streaks , deepening into blue , came and went upon her cheeks like the midnight dances of the northern lights ; her eyes flashed with a momentary brightness more than mortal , and the spirit fled . The fair orphan still clung to the neck , and kissed the yet warm lips of her dead mother . As yet she was too young to see all the dreariness of the desolation around her ; but she was indeed an orphan in the most cruel meaning of the word . Her mother had preserved a mystery over her sorrows and the circumstances of her life , which Mrs. Douglas had never endeavoured to penetrate .