midnight
Glorious summer weather , gold on sea and land , but gloom of death and dole on our hearts , and dark forebodings of what the future has in store . I could hardly believe it possible that one night 's agony could work such a change in the appearance ; but when , next morning , I saw the face of Father Letheby , white and drawn , as if Sorrow had dragged his rack over it , and the dark circles under his eyes , and the mute despair of his mouth , I remembered all that I had ever read of the blanching of hair in one night , and the dread metamorphoses that follow in the furrows where Anguish has driven his plough . It appeared , then , that between the buoyancy of the day 's success , and the society of friends , and the little excitements of the evening , he had not realized the extent of his losses and responsibilities . But in the loneliness of midnight it all came back ; and he read , in flaming letters on the dark background of his future , the one word : _ Ruin _ ! And it was not the financial and monetary bankruptcy that he dreaded , but the shame that follows defeat , and the secret exultation that many would feel at the toppling over of such airy castles and the destruction of such ambitious hopes . He was young , and life had looked fair before him , holding out all kinds of roseate promises ; and now , at one blow , the whole is shattered , and shame and disgrace , indelible as the biting of a burning acid , was his for all the long years of life . It was no use to argue : `` You have done nothing wrong or dishonorable '' ; here was defeat and financial ruin , and no amount of whitewashing by reason or argument could cover the dread consequences .