midnight
It was only by the exertion of main force that she was separated from it and carried to her own apartment . There she fell into one of those deadly fainting fits , from which the faithful , affectionate Peggy had so often brought her back to life . Never shall I forget that awful night . The cold presence of mortality in its most appalling form , the shadow of my mother 's doom that was rolling heavily down upon me with prophetic darkness , the dismal preparations , the hurrying steps echoing so drearily through the midnight gloom ; the cold burden of life , the mystery of death , the omnipotence of God , the unfathomableness of Eternity , -- all pressed upon me with such a crushing weight , my spirit gasped and fainted beneath the burden . One moment it seemed that worlds would not tempt me to look again on that shrouded form , so majestic in its dread immobility , -- its cold , icy calmness , -- then drawn by an awful fascination , I would gaze and gaze as if my straining eyes could penetrate the depths of that abyss , which no sounding line has ever reached . I saw her laid in her lowly grave . My mother , too , was there .