midnight
Henceforth , the question should be not what awaited her , but how she should show her strength in face of the opposition she now expected to meet from this clear-minded , amply equipped lawyer and judge she had called to her aid . -LSB- Illustration : AFTER ONE LOOK HE ASSUMED SOME SHOW OF HIS OLD COMMANDING PRESENCE AND ADVANCED BRAVELY DOWN THE STEPS . -RSB- `` A task for his equal , not for an ignorant , untried woman like myself , '' she thought ; and , following another of her impulses , she leaped from her seat at the table and rushed across to her dresser on which she placed two candles , one at her right and another at her left . Then she sat down between them and in the stillness of midnight surveyed herself in the glass , as she might survey the face of a stranger . What did she see ? A countenance no longer young , and yet with some of the charm of youth still lingering in the brooding eyes and in the dangerous curves of a mobile and expressive mouth . But it was not for charm she was looking , but for some signs of power quite apart from that of sex .