midnight
He pressed a hand that was like a quivering chord . She gave it as though it had been his own to claim . But that it meant no more than a hand he knew by the very frankness of her compliance , in the manner natural to her ; and this was the charm , it filled him with her peculiar image and spirit , and while he held it he was subdued . Lying on the deck at midnight , wrapt in his cloak and a coil of rope for a pillow , considerably apart from jesting Roland , the recollection of that little sanguine spot of time when Renee 's life-blood ran with his , began to heave under him like a swelling sea . For Nevil the starred black night was Renee . Half his heart was in it : but the combative division flew to the morning and the deadly iniquity of the marriage , from which he resolved to save her ; in pure devotedness , he believed . And so he closed his eyes .