midnight
_ You _ ! '' he breathed , and stood transfixed . Miss Forrest had always been , though never conspicuously dressed , such a figure of quiet elegance that one who knew her could almost recognize her with her face quite out of sight . Now , without a single accessory of the sort which stands for high-bred fashion , her beauty flashed at Brown like that of one bright star in a sky of midnight gloom . She was not smiling , she was looking straight at him with her wonderful eyes , and in them was a strange and bewildering appeal . For a moment he could not speak -- he , who had been so eloquent within her hearing for the hour past . He looked at her , and looked again at Mrs. Brainard , and back at Helena again , and then he stammered , `` I ca n't -- quite -- believe it is you -- either of you ! ''