midnight
For a week after this I heard no more of the matter , and , indeed , my attention was amply occupied in other ways , for I was up for my Fellowship , a fact that had prevented me from attending the funeral or seeing the lawyer . At last , however , the examination was over , and I came back to my rooms and sank into an easy chair with a happy consciousness that I had got through it very fairly . Soon , however , my thoughts , relieved of the pressure that had crushed them into a single groove during the last few days , turned to the events of the night of poor Vincey 's death , and again I asked myself what it all meant , and wondered if I should hear anything more of the matter , and if I did not , what it would be my duty to do with the curious iron chest . I sat there and thought and thought till I began to grow quite disturbed over the whole occurrence : the mysterious midnight visit , the prophecy of death so shortly to be fulfilled , the solemn oath that I had taken , and which Vincey had called on me to answer to in another world than this . Had the man committed suicide ? It looked like it . And what was the quest of which he spoke ?