midnight
That it was for some evil purpose towards herself , she could not doubt ; and it seemed , that , if he did not intend to destroy her , with a view of immediately seizing her estates , he meant to reserve her a while in concealment , for some more terrible design , for one that might equally gratify his avarice and still more his deep revenge . At this moment , remembering Signor Brochio and his behaviour in the corridor , a few preceding nights , the latter supposition , horrible as it was , strengthened in her belief . Yet , why remove her from the castle , where deeds of darkness had , she feared , been often executed with secrecy ? -- from chambers , perhaps With many a foul , and midnight murder stain 'd . The dread of what she might be going to encounter was now so excessive , that it sometimes threatened her senses ; and , often as she went , she thought of her late father and of all he would have suffered , could he have foreseen the strange and dreadful events of her future life ; and how anxiously he would have avoided that fatal confidence , which committed his daughter to the care of a woman so weak as was Madame Montoni . So romantic and improbable , indeed , did her present situation appear to Emily herself , particularly when she compared it with the repose and beauty of her early days , that there were moments , when she could almost have believed herself the victim of frightful visions , glaring upon a disordered fancy . Restrained by the presence of her guides from expressing her terrors , their acuteness was , at length , lost in gloomy despair .