midnight
It would have been far more prudent had Charles informed Henry Bannerworth or George of his determination to meet the vampyre that evening , but he did not do so . Somehow he fancied it would be some reproach against his courage if he did not go , and go alone , too , for he could not help suspecting that , from the conduct of his uncle , Sir Francis Varney might have got up an opinion inimical to his courage . With all the eager excitement of youth , there was nothing that arrayed itself to his mind in such melancholy and uncomfortable colours as an imputation upon his courage . `` I will show this vampyre , if he be such , '' he said , `` that I am not afraid to meet him , and alone , too , at his own hour -- at midnight , even when , if his preternatural powers be of more avail to him than at any other time , he can attempt , if he dare , to use them . '' Charles resolved upon going armed , and with the greatest care he loaded his pistols , and placed them aside ready for action , when the time should come to set out to meet the vampyre at the spot in the park which had been particularly alluded to in his letter . This spot was perfectly well known to Charles ; indeed , no one could be a single day at Bannerworth Hall without noticing it , so prominent an object was that pollard oak , standing , as it did , alone , with the beautiful green sward all around it . Near to it was the pool which hid been mentioned , which was , in reality , a fish-pond , and some little distance off commenced the thick plantation , among the intricacies of which Sir Francis Varney , or the vampyre , had been supposed to disappear , after the revivification of his body at the full of the moon .