midnight
`` I faint , I fail ! '' she wrote . `` The Sea of Dread breaks about my feet . It is midnight . The pentagram fades from the floor -- the nine lamps die -- the breath of the One at the casement is upon me -- '' Vere stopped . `` A handful of pages have been torn out here , '' he stated . `` The next entry that I can read is in the middle of a stained page , and must be considerably later on . ''