midnight
She waited for the full obscuration -- until the last vestige of moonlight had vanished , and only a strange-looking , dull , copper-hued ball hung in the sky . The baroness now rose and went into the house . The astronomer on the castle tower observed that she neglected to close the veranda door . It was now quite dark ; the silence of midnight reigned over everything . Count Vavel waited in his observatory until the moon emerged from shadow . Instead of the moon , something quite different came within the field of vision . From the shrubbery in the rear of the manor there emerged a man .