midnight
Do n't let them be sold , will you ? '' Here Nina paused , too much exhausted to talk longer , and when about dark Arthur came in , he found her asleep with Edith at her side , while upon her face and about her nose there was a sharp , pitched look he had never seen before . Intuitively , however , he knew that look was the harbinger of death , and when Edith told him what Nina had said , he felt that ere the morning came his broken lily would be gone . Slowly the evening wore on , and one by one the family retired , leaving Arthur and Edith alone with the pale sleeper whose slumbers ended not until near the midnight hour ; silently , sadly , Arthur and Edith watched her , she on one side , he upon the other , neither speaking for the sorrow which lay so heavy at their hearts , She was very beautiful as she lay there so motionless , and Arthur felt his heart clinging more and more to his fair , childish wife , while his conscience smote him cruelly for any wrong he might have done to her . She was going from him now so fast , and as the clock struck twelve the soft blue eyes unclosed and smiled up in his face with an expression which , better than words could do , told that she bore no malice toward him , nothing but trusting faith and confiding love . He had been kind to her , most kind , and she told him so again , for she seemed to know how dear to him such testimonial would be when she was gone . `` The clouds are weeping for Nina , '' she said , as she heard the rain still beating against the window .