midnight
In a few terse phrases he told me his opinion of , and feeling towards , the actress : he judged her as a woman , not an artist : it was a branding judgment . That night was already marked in my book of life , not with white , but with a deep-red cross . But I had not done with it yet ; and other memoranda were destined to be set down in characters of tint indelible . Towards midnight , when the deepening tragedy blackened to the death-scene , and all held their breath , and even Graham bit his under-lip , and knit his brow , and sat still and struck -- when the whole theatre was hushed , when the vision of all eyes centred in one point , when all ears listened towards one quarter -- nothing being seen but the white form sunk on a seat , quivering in conflict with her last , her worst-hated , her visibly-conquering foe -- nothing heard but her throes , her gaspings , breathing yet of mutiny , panting still defiance ; when , as it seemed , an inordinate will , convulsing a perishing mortal frame , bent it to battle with doom and death , fought every inch of ground , sold every drop of blood , resisted to the latest the rape of every faculty , _ would _ see , _ would _ hear , _ would _ breathe , _ would _ live , up to , within , well-nigh _ beyond _ the moment when death says to all sense and all being -- `` Thus far and no farther ! '' -- Just then a stir , pregnant with omen , rustled behind the scenes -- feet ran , voices spoke . What was it ? demanded the whole house .