midnight
She had recognized the fact that all around her was wall , that below her there was a pavement covered with moisture and a truss of straw ; but neither lamp nor air-hole . Then she had seated herself on that straw and , sometimes , for the sake of changing her attitude , on the last stone step in her dungeon . For a while she had tried to count the black minutes measured off for her by the drop of water ; but that melancholy labor of an ailing brain had broken off of itself in her head , and had left her in stupor . At length , one day , or one night , -LRB- for midnight and midday were of the same color in that sepulchre -RRB- , she heard above her a louder noise than was usually made by the turnkey when he brought her bread and jug of water . She raised her head , and beheld a ray of reddish light passing through the crevices in the sort of trapdoor contrived in the roof of the _ inpace _ . At the same time , the heavy lock creaked , the trap grated on its rusty hinges , turned , and she beheld a lantern , a hand , and the lower portions of the bodies of two men , the door being too low to admit of her seeing their heads . The light pained her so acutely that she shut her eyes .