midnight
`` Well , '' said the chaplain , `` we will say a mass for him tomorrow , to quiet his disturbed spirit , and he will , perhaps , vex us no more , poor lad . '' Etienne and Louis were very anxious to hear all the details of Pierre 's ghostly encounter , and questioned him very closely . The former vowed he would have challenged the spectre ; he did not fear Wilfred living , nor would he fear him dead . The whole conversation at the castle hearth that night was about ghosts , demons , witches , warlocks , vampires , werewolves , and such-like ; and about two hours before midnight our young Normans went to bed pleasantly terrified . It was All Saints ' Day , the day appointed for the consecration of the new Priory of St. Deny 's . The monks from Coutances had arrived . The bishop of that diocese , already known to our readers , had reached Aescendune to perform the ceremony , by permission of the Bishop of Worcester , the sainted Wulfstan , in whose jurisdiction the priory lay ; and there was a grand gathering of Norman barons and their retainers .