nearly midnight
But the gleam was only momentary . A recurring sense of chill and physical oppression dispersed it . Presently he rose heavily , glanced at his open diary , reread the last page with a sigh , and closed it . Then , as it was nearly midnight , he retreated upstairs to his bare and icy bedroom , where half-an-hour 's attempt to meditate completed the numbness of body and mind , in which state ultimately he went to bed , though not to sleep . * * * * * The meeting of the Church Council of Upcote was held in the Church House of the village a few days after the Bishop 's conversation with Canon Dornal . It was an evening long remembered by those who shared in it . The figure of Meynell instinct with a kind of fierce patience ; the face rugged as ever , but paler and tenderer in repose , as of one who , mystically sustained , had been passing through deep waters ; his speech , sternly repressed , and yet for the understanding ear , enriched by new tones and shades of feeling -- on those who believed in him the effect of these slight but significant changes in the man they loved was electrical .