midnight
Then Florimel told Jurgen of her horrible awakening in the grave , and of what had befallen her hands and feet there , the while that against her will she fed repugnantly , destroying first her kindred and then the neighbors . This done , she had arisen . `` For the cattle still lived , and that troubled me . When I had put an end to this annoyance , I climbed into the church belfry , not alone , for one went with me of whom I prefer not to talk ; and at midnight I sounded the bell so that all who heard it would sicken and die . And I wept all the while , because I knew that when everything had been destroyed which I had known in my first life in the flesh , I would be compelled to go into new lands , in search of the food which alone can nourish me , and I was always sincerely attached to my home . So it was , your majesty , that I forever relinquished my sewing , and became a lovely peril , a flashing desolation , and an evil which smites by night , in spite of my abhorrence of irregular hours : and what I do I dislike extremely , for it is a sad fate to become a vampire , and still to sympathize with your victims , and particularly with their poor mothers . '' So Jurgen comforted Florimel , and he put his arm around her .