midnight
His face with the light of the torch upon it appeared and vanished , and flitted before my eyes . The next morning , when daylight and courage returned , I asked my maid whether Simon the Jew was a good or a bad man ? Observing the impression that had been made upon my mind , and foreseeing that the expedient , which she had thus found successful , might be advantageously repeated , she answered with oracular duplicity , `` Simon the Jew is a good man for naughty boys . '' The threat of `` Simon the Jew '' was for some time afterwards used upon every occasion to reduce me to passive obedience ; and when by frequent repetition this threat had lost somewhat of its power , she proceeded to tell me , in a mysterious tone , stories of Jews who had been known to steal poor children for the purpose of killing , crucifying , and sacrificing them at their secret feasts and midnight abominations . The less I understood , the more I believed . Above all others , there was one story -- horrible ! most horrible !