Midnight
The somewhat gaudy-looking gentlemen who stepped after the pious prelate and peer wore the stars and garters of foreign courts , and were evidently embassadors extraordinary to that of her midnight majesty . After them came a snowy flock of fair young girls , angels all but the wings , slender as sylphs , and robed in purest white . Each bore on her arm a basket of flowers , roses and rosebuds of every tint , from snowy white to darkest crimson , and as they floated in they scattered them lightly as they went . And then after all came another vision , `` the last , the brightest , the best -- the Midnight Queen , '' herself . One other figure followed her , and as they entered , a shout arose from the whole assemblage , `` Long live Queen Miranda ! '' And bowing gracefully and easily to the right and left , the queen with a queenly step , trod the long crimson carpet and mounted the regal throne . From the first moment of his looking down , Sir Norman had been staring with all the eyes in his head , undergoing one shock of surprise after another with the equanimity of a man quite new to it ; but now a cry arose to his lips , and died there in voiceless consternation .