midnight
The scene was unbelievably brilliant . Amber felt like rubbing his eyes . Here were sidewalks , pavements , throbbing electric arcs , Englishmen in evening dress , fair Englishwomen in dainty gowns and pretty wraps , the hum of English voices , the very smell of civilisation . And back there , just across the border he had so recently crossed , still reigned the midnight of the Orient , glamorous with the glamour of the Arabian Nights , dreadful with its dumb menace , its atmosphere of plot and counterplot , mutiny , treason , intrigue , and death . Here , a little island of life and light and gay , heedless laughter ; there , all round it , pressing close , silence and impenetrable darkness , like some dark sea of death lapping its shores ... . In a cold sweat of horror Amber got out of the vehicle and paid his fare . As he turned he discovered an uniformed policeman stalking to and fro before the hotel , symbol of the sane power that ruled the land .