midnight
the Asika asked of him . `` Not altogether , '' he answered , `` I think it is dark . '' `` From the beginning my spirit has ever loved the dark , Vernoon . I think that it was shaped in some black midnight . '' They passed through the chief entrance of the house which had pillars of woodwork grotesquely carved , down some steps into a walled and roofed-in yard where the shadows were even more dense than in the house they had left . Only at one spot was there light flowing down through a hole in the roof , as it did apparently in that hall where Alan had found the Asika sitting in state . The light fell on to a pedestal or column made of gold which was placed behind an object like a large Saxon font , also made of gold .