midnight
But concerning the Black Disc in Lysia 's hall , it is a curiously elaborate piece of workmanship . It corresponds with an electric wheel in the Interior Chamber of the Temple , where all the priests and flamens meet and sum up the entire events of the day , both public and private , condensing the same into brief hieroglyphs . Setting their wheel in motion , they start a similar motion in the Disc , and the bright characters that flash upon it and disappear like quicksilver , are the reflection of the working electric wires which write what only Lysia is skilled to read . From sunset to midnight these messages keep coming without intermission , -- and all the most carefully concealed affairs of Al-Kyris are discovered by the Temple Spies and conveyed to Lysia by this means . Whatever the news , it is repeated again and again on the Disc , till she , by rapidly turning it with a peculiar movement of her own , causes a small bell to ring in the Temple , which signifies to her informers that she has understood all their communications , and knows everything . Her inquisitorial system is searching and elaborate , . .