midnight
The eldest daughter was the image of Happiness at seventeen , and the aged grandmother , who sat knitting in the warmest place , was the image of Happiness grown old . They had found the `` herb heart 's - ease '' in the bleakest spot of all New England . This family were situated in the Notch of the White Hills , where the wind was sharp throughout the year and pitilessly cold in the winter , giving their cottage all its fresh inclemency before it descended on the valley of the Saco . They dwelt in a cold spot and a dangerous one , for a mountain towered above their heads so steep that the stones would often rumble down its sides and startle them at midnight . The daughter had just uttered some simple jest that filled them all with mirth , when the wind came through the Notch and seemed to pause before their cottage , rattling the door with a sound of wailing and lamentation before it passed into the valley . For a moment it saddened them , though there was nothing unusual in the tones . But the family were glad again when they perceived that the latch was lifted by some traveller whose footsteps had been unheard amid the dreary blast which heralded his approach and wailed as he was entering and went moaning away from the door .