midnight
physical wants and mental suffering , added to this long watching , will turn my brain . '' She buried her face in her hands , and endeavored to shut out the grotesque and phantom-like forms that seemed to dance before her . A deathlike stillness reigned through the house , the silence alone broken by the ticking of the great dial at the head of the staircase . There is something inexpressibly awful in the ticking of a clock , when heard at midnight by the lonely and anxious watcher beside the bed of death . It is the voice of time marking its slow but certain progress towards eternity , and warning us in solemn tones that it will soon cease to number the hours for the sufferer for ever . Elinor trembled as she listened to the low monotonous measured sounds ; and she felt at that moment a presentiment that her own weary pilgrimage on earth was drawing to a close . `` Oh , Algernon ! ''