midnight
They drew her to them as the mother the homesick child , and like the homesick child , back at last after weary days , she knew only that she had come home . In this first overflowing moment there was no thought of colour -- brush work -- this or that triumphant audacity ; it was a coming to her own , a home-coming of the spirit -- the heart 's passionate thankfulness , the heart 's response . A few minutes of reverent pause , a high delight , deep response , and then -- the inevitable . Clear as a bell upon the midnight air was that call from soul to kindred soul . Assurance and longing and demand possessed her beyond all power to stay . The work she stood before now called to her as naturally and inevitably as the bird to its mate , as undeniably as the sea to the river , as potently as spring calls upon earth for its own , as autumn calls to summer for harvest time . It frightened her .