midnight
But Lilith was afraid of a reaction of rage and hatred in her father after the terror was removed ; and Karl saw that he might thus be deprived of all further intercourse with Lilith , and all chance of softening the old man 's heart towards him ; while Lilith would not hear of forsaking him who had banished all the human race but herself . They managed at length to agree upon a plan of operation . `` The first thing they did was to go to the cellar where the plaster mass lay , Karl carrying with him a great axe used for cleaving wood . Lilith shuddered when she saw it , stained as it was with the wine Heinrich had spilt over it , and almost believed herself the midnight companion of a vampire after all , visiting with him the terrible corpse in which he lived all day . But Karl soon reassured her ; and a few good blows of the axe revealed a very different core to that which Teufelsbuerst supposed to be in it . Karl broke it into pieces , and with Lilith 's help , who insisted on carrying her share , the whole was soon at the bottom of the Moldau and every trace of its ever having existed removed . Before morning , too , the form of Lilith had dawned anew in every picture .