midnight
Nothing seemed sad , -- nothing seemed difficult in the whole Universe -- every shadow of trouble seemed swept away from a shining sky of peace . I threw open the lattice window of my study and stepping out on the balcony which overhung the garden , I stood there dreamily looking out upon the night . There was no moon ; only a million quivering points of light flashing from the crowded stars in a heaven of dusky blue . The air was warm , and fragrant with the sweet scent of stocks and heliotrope , -- there was a great silence , for it was fully midnight , and not even the drowsy twitter of a bird broke the intense quiet . The world was asleep -- or seemed so -- although for fifty living organisms in Nature that sleep there are a thousand that wake , to whom night is the working day . I listened , -- and fancied I could hear the delicate murmuring of voices hidden among the leaves and behind the trees , and the thrill of soft music flowing towards me on the sound-waves of the air . It was one of those supreme moments when I almost thought I had made some marked progress towards the attainment of my highest aims , -- when the time I had spent and the patience I had exercised in cultivating and training what may be called the INWARD powers of sight and hearing were about to be rewarded by a full opening to my striving spirit of the gates which had till now been only set ajar .