midnight
How strong were its pulsations ! how loud they sounded in the midnight stillness ! -- louder than the death-watch that ticked by the hearth . To escape from the beatings of `` this muffled drum '' of life , she went to the window , and partly drawing aside the curtain , breathed on a pane of glass , so that the gauzy web the frost had woven might melt away and admit the vertical rays of the midnight moon . How beautiful , how resplendent was the scene that was spread out before her ! She had not thought before of looking abroad , and it was the first time the solemn glories of the noon of night had unfolded to her view . In the morning a drizzling rain had fallen , which had frozen as it fell on the branches of the leafless trees , and now on every little twig hung pendant diamonds , glittering in the moonbeams .