midnight
Once delivered up to the blight of suspicion , who could tell what the result might be ; the arrest of her person perhaps , -- a thing which , once accomplished , would cast a shadow over her young life that it would take more than time to dispel . The accusation of an impecunious secretary would be less horrible than this . I determined to make an early call upon Mr. Gryce . Meanwhile the contrasted pictures of Eleanore standing with her hand upon the breast of the dead , her face upraised and mirroring a glory , I could not recall without emotion ; and Mary , fleeing a short half-hour later indignantly from her presence , haunted me and kept me awake long after midnight . It was like a double vision of light and darkness that , while contrasting , neither assimilated nor harmonized . I could not flee from it . Do what I would , the two pictures followed me , filling my soul with alternate hope and distrust , till I knew not whether to place my hand with Eleanore on the breast of the dead , and swear implicit faith in her truth and purity , or to turn my face like Mary , and fly from what I could neither comprehend nor reconcile .