midnight
The first thing to be done was , of course , to sit upon their chests , so as to produce the stifling sensation of nightmare . Then , as their beds were quite close to each other , to stand between them in the form of a green , icy-cold corpse , till they became paralyzed with fear , and finally , to throw off the winding-sheet , and crawl round the room , with white , bleached bones and one rolling eyeball , in the character of `` Dumb Daniel , or the Suicide 's Skeleton , '' a _ rôle _ in which he had on more than one occasion produced a great effect , and which he considered quite equal to his famous part of `` Martin the Maniac , or the Masked Mystery . '' At half-past ten he heard the family going to bed . For some time he was disturbed by wild shrieks of laughter from the twins , who , with the light-hearted gaiety of schoolboys , were evidently amusing themselves before they retired to rest , but at a quarter-past eleven all was still , and , as midnight sounded , he sallied forth . The owl beat against the window-panes , the raven croaked from the old yew-tree , and the wind wandered moaning round the house like a lost soul ; but the Otis family slept unconscious of their doom , and high above the rain and storm he could hear the steady snoring of the Minister for the United States . He stepped stealthily out of the wainscoting , with an evil smile on his cruel , wrinkled mouth , and the moon hid her face in a cloud as he stole past the great oriel window , where his own arms and those of his murdered wife were blazoned in azure and gold . On and on he glided , like an evil shadow , the very darkness seeming to loathe him as he passed .