midnight
Wilkins was seated at a low table , writing , apparently answering a letter , which lay open before him , written in a peculiarly beautiful and delicate female hand . The light of the lamp fell full upon his face , which was very pale ; and his teeth were pressed hard into his under lip . Behind him , with one hand clasped upon the back of his chair , stood a young girl ; and though her features were of exquisite proportions and beautiful moulding , she displayed in the slight tinge of duskiness upon her skin , and the peculiar blackness of her large eyes , unmistakable proofs , to an experienced judge , of the quadroon blood in her veins . Her hair was long , and of midnight blackness ; and fell in thick , close curls over the graceful scarf which covered her shoulders . Her forehead was high and fine , her eyebrows arched and delicately traced -- her nose free from all trace of her negro origin , and her lashes long and curving upon her round cheek . Her mouth was small , and the lips parted over teeth of the most perfect regularity ; but in this feature , more than in any other , as she stood watching Wilkins , as he wrote , there was an expression of proud bitterness , which came and went over those exquisite features , like gleams of lightning . As Wilkins finished writing , he carefully folded and sealed his letter , and handed it to the girl , without adding any superscription .