midnight
His master was propped up by pillows , and evidently suffering painfully from his breathing , and over his pinched features had crept that grey shadow which even the unpractised eye can discern and comprehend . The young doctor stood sympathetically by , conscious that he had given his last aid and must stand aside . Gladys knelt by the bed with folded hands , her golden head bowed in deep and bitter silence . She saw her last friend drifting towards the mystic sea , and felt as if the blackness of midnight surrounded her . ` Surely , doctor , this is a sudden and awful change ? ' Walter said to the doctor ; but he put up his hand . ` Hush ! '