midnight
Half the canvases had been turned , and then I came upon what I sought . I stood petrified . But I heard Wilderspin 's voice at my side say , ` Do not let an imaginary scene distress you , Mr. Aylwin . The picture merely represents the scene in Coleridge 's poem where the Lady Christabel , having secretly and in pity brought to her room to share her bed the mysterious lady she had met in the forest at midnight , watches the beautiful witch undress , and is spell-bound and struck dumb by some `` sight to dream of , not to tell , '' which she sees at the lady 's bosom . ' * * * * * Christabel ! It was Winifred sitting there upright in bed , confronted by a female figure -- a tall lady , who with bowed head was undressing herself beneath a lamp suspended from the ceiling . Christabel !