twelve o'clock
Chorus -- Noel , Noel , Noel , Noel , Born is the King of Israel . '' As the Noel proceeded , some came in at the window , others at the doors , and the lower part of the room began to fill with singers and auditors . The Noel ended : there was a silence , during which the organ was opened , the bellows blown , and a number of servants and others came into the room with little lighted tapers , and stood , in a long row , awaiting a signal from the Squire . He took out his watch , and , finding it was close on twelve o'clock , directed the doors to be flung open , that he might hear the great clock in the hall strike the quarters . There was a solemn hush of expectation , that made the sensitive heart of Grace Carden thrill with anticipation . The clock struck the first quarter -- dead silence ; the second -- the third -- dead silence . But , at the fourth , and with the first stroke of midnight , out burst the full organ and fifty voices , with the `` Gloria in excelsis Deo ; '' and , as that divine hymn surged on , the lighters ran along the walls and lighted the eighty candles , and , for the first time , the twelve waxen pillars , so that , as the hymn concluded , the room was in a blaze , and it was Christmas Day .