Midnight
Round all the walls had sat priests , each in his place ; and beside each kneeled a penitent , making ready for the joy of Bethlehem once again -- wise and simple -- Shepherds and Magi -- yet all simple before the baffling and entrancing Mystery . There had been footsteps and voices there too -- yet of men who were busy upon their Father 's affairs in their Father 's house , and not upon their own . They were going from altar to altar , speaking with their Friends at Court ; and here , opposite where she stood and peeped in the empty cold darkness , there had burned lights before the Throne of Him Who had made Heaven and earth , and did His Father 's Will on earth as it was done in Heaven ... . Forty years ago the life of this church was rising on this very night , with a hum as of an approaching multitude , from hour to hour , brightening and quickening as it came , up to the glory of the Midnight Mass , the crowded church , alight from end to end , the smell of bog and bay in the air , soon to be met and crowned by the savour of incense-smoke ; and the world of spirit , too , quickened about them ; and the angels -LRB- she thought -RRB- came down from Heaven , as men up from the City round about , to greet Him who is King of both angels and men . And now , in this new England , the church , empty of the Divine Presence , was emptying , too , of its human visitors . She could hear great doors somewhere crash together , and the reverberation roll beneath the stone vaulting . It would empty soon , desolate and dark ; and so it would be all night ... .