midnight
I believe They wore white vestments , all of them . They were Quite calm ; and each still face unearthly fair , Unearthly quiet . So like statues all , Waiting they stood without that lighted hall ; And in their hands , like a blue star , they held Each one a silver lamp . ' '' Standing immediately behind her , Dr. Grey saw that she had seized the weird '' _ Vision of Virgins _ , '' and was putting into pigment that solemn phantasm of the poet 's imagination where five radiant women were passing to their reward , -- and five wailing over flickering , dying lamps , were huddled helplessly and hopelessly under a black and starless midnight sky . Although unfinished , there was marvellous power in the picture , and the sickly gleam from the expiring wicks made the surrounding gloom more supernatural , like the deep shadows skulking behind the lurid glare in some old Flemish painting . He saw also that she had followed the general outline of the poem ; but one of the faces was so supreme in its mute anguish that he thought of Reni 's `` Cenci , '' and of a wan `` Alcestis , '' and a desperate `` Cassandra , '' he had seen at Rome ; and , in comparison , the description of the poet seemed almost vapid , -- ... `` One as still as death Hollowed her hands about her lamp , for fear Some motion of the midnight , or her breath , Should fan out the last flicker . Rosy clear The light oozed through her fingers o'er her face .