midnight
* * * * * The evening is followed by a night on which an invisible moon bestows a subdued , yet pervasive light -- without radiance , as without blackness . From the spot whereon I am ensconced in a cottage , a mile away , the fort has now ceased to be visible ; yet , as by day , to anybody whose thoughts have been engaged with it and its barbarous grandeurs of past time the form asserts its existence behind the night gauzes as persistently as if it had a voice . Moreover , the south-west wind continues to feed the intervening arable flats with vapours brought directly from its sides . The midnight hour for which there has been occasion to wait at length arrives , and I journey towards the stronghold in obedience to a request urged earlier in the day . It concerns an appointment , which I rather regret my decision to keep now that night is come . The route thither is hedgeless and treeless -- I need not add deserted . The moonlight is sufficient to disclose the pale riband-like surface of the way as it trails along between the expanses of darker fallow .