midnight
To her , it seems as though the current of time had forgotten to run on and join the mighty past , and that its swift waters were gathering glassily around her . With unmitigated care , Florence had attended the bedside of her suffering parent ; occasionally slumbering on his pillow , but more frequently watching through the long nights , and often stealing to the casement , to look out upon surrounding gloom , and wonder if the light of day would ever fall again on earth . Ah ! in the midnight hour , when all nature is hushed when universal darkness reigns , when the `` still small voice '' will no longer be silenced , then we are wont to commune with our own hearts . All barriers melt away , and the saddened past , the troubled present , and the shadowy future rise successively before us , and refuse to be put by . In vain we tightly close the aching lids ; strange lurid lights flare around us , and mysterious forms glide to and fro . To the guilty , how fearful must the season of darkness prove , when , unable longer to escape from themselves , they yield to the pangs of remorse , and toss in unutterable anguish !