midnight
His heart sank , and he felt a nameless and indescribable terror within him -- a terror , he thought , quite distinct from the conduct of his daughter , or of anything else he had heard . He had , in fact , lost all perception of his individual misery , and a moral gloom , black as night , seemed to cover and mingle with those fiery tortures which were consuming him . An apprehension , also , of immediate dissolution came over him -- his memory grew gradually weaker and weaker , until he felt himself no longer able to account for the scene which had just taken place ; and for a brief period , although he neither swooned nor fainted , nor fell into a fit of any kind , he experienced a stupor that amounted to a complete unconsciousness of being , if we except an undying impression of some great evil which had befallen him , and which lay , like a grim and insatiable monster , tearing up his heart . At length , by a violent effort , he recovered a little , became once more conscious , walked about for some time , then surveyed himself in the glass , and what between the cadaverous hue of his face and the flakes of red foam which we have described , when taken in connection with his thick , midnight brows , it need not be wondered at that he felt alarmed at the state to which he awakened . After some time , however , he rang for Gibson , who , on seeing him , started . `` Good God , sir ! '' said he , quite alarmed , `` whit is the matter ? ''