midnight
If I do her wrong , let love be my excuse . I want only to know my doom from her own lips . '' He never doubted , all the time , that she was a real earthly woman ; or , rather , that there was a woman , who , somehow or other , threw this reflection of her form into the magic mirror . He opened his secret drawer , took out his books of magic , lighted his lamp , and read and made notes from midnight till three in the morning , for three successive nights . Then he replaced his books ; and the next night went out in quest of the materials necessary for the conjuration . These were not easy to find ; for , in love-charms and all incantations of this nature , ingredients are employed scarcely fit to be mentioned , and for the thought even of which , in connexion with her , he could only excuse himself on the score of his bitter need . At length he succeeded in procuring all he required ; and on the seventh evening from that on which she had last appeared , he found himself prepared for the exercise of unlawful and tyrannical power .