midnight
His heart at the moment was a divided one -- one half being given to Leoline , and the other to the Midnight Queen and her mysterious court . The farther he went away from Leoline , the dimmer her star became in the horizon of his thoughts ; and the nearer he came to Miranda , the brighter and more eagerly she loomed up , until he spurred his horse to a most furious gallop , lest he should find the castle and the queen lost in the regions of space when he got there . Once the plague-stricken city lay behind him , his journey was short ; and soon , to his great delight , he turned into the silent deserted by-path leading to the ruin . Tying his horse to a stake in the crumbling wall , he paused for a moment to look at it in the pale , wan light of the midnight moon . He had looked at it many a time before , but never with the same interest as now ; and the ruined battlements , the fallen roof , the broken windows , and mouldering sides , had all a new and weird interest for him . No one was visible far or near ; and feeling that his horse was secure in the shadow of the wall , he entered , and walked lightly and rapidly along in the direction of the spiral staircase . With more haste , but the same precaution , he descended , and passed through the vaults to where he knew the loose flag-stone was .