midnight
There it stood , silent and gloomy , without any appearance of human life or enjoyment about or within it . As I approached , the moon once more had broken out of the clouds , and shone dimly upon the wet , glittering slates and windows , with a death-like lustre , that gradually faded away as I left the point of observation , and entered the folding-door . It was the parish chapel . The scene which presented itself here was in keeping not only with the external appearance of the house , but with the darkness , the storm , and the hour , which was now a little after midnight . About forty persons were sitting in dead silence upon the circular steps of the altar . They did not seem to move ; and as I entered and advanced , the echo of my footsteps rang through the building with a lonely distinctness , which added to the solemnity and mystery of the circumstances about me . The windows were secured with shutters on the inside , and on the altar a candle was lighted , which burned dimly amid the surrounding darkness , and lengthened the shadow of the altar itself , and those of six or seven persons who stood on its upper steps , until they mingled in the obscurity which shrouded the lower end of the chapel .