midnight
His suit was persisted in for two or three days , when , roused to madness , he told me , that next day , if I consented not , I would be wedded to the natives of Madagascar . I traced the outline of the knife through the covering of my bosom , and defied him . The next night was clear , and somewhat chill -- indications of a cessation of the calm . The rudeness of Crawley had had the effect of keeping my mind from falling into the grasp of the demon of diseased fantasy ; but , now my fate was fixed , I had no more to fear from him ; and towards midnight , I fell again into the train of imaginings that had formerly haunted me . I had opened the cabin window for air -- having felt a suffocating oppression of the chest during the day , proceeding from the extreme heat and the confined apartment . My eyes were again fixed in the direction of the island . I could see the dark shade of the land lying upon the gilded waters .