midnight
Thus she found enjoyment enough ; for , in truth , her love and almost abject passion of adoration for her sister had grown as his lordship 's had , with every hour . For a season there had rested upon her a black shadow beneath which she wept and trembled , bewildered and lost ; though even at its darkest the object of her humble love had been a star whose brightness was not dimmed , because it could not be so whatsoever passed before it . This cloud , however , being it seemed dispelled , the star had shone but more brilliant in its high place , and she the more passionately worshipped it . To sit apart and see her idol 's radiance , to mark her as she reigned and seemed the more royal when she bent the knee to royalty itself , to see the shimmer of her jewels crowning her midnight hair and crashing the warm whiteness of her noble neck , to observe the admiration in all eyes as they dwelt upon her -- this was , indeed , enough of happiness . `` She is , as ever , '' she murmured , `` not so much a woman as a proud lovely goddess who has deigned to descend to earth . But my lord does not look like himself . He seems shrunk in the face and old , and his eyes have rings about them .