midnight
It made known to the citizens of Nuremberg that , since the thunderstorm of the preceding night , a maid had been missing from the house of the Honourable Herr Ernst Ortlieb , of the Council , a Swiss by birth , Katharina of Sarnen , called Katterle , a woman of blameless reputation . Whoever should learn anything concerning the girl was requested to bring the news to the Ortlieb residence . What did this mean ? If the girl had vanished at midnight and not returned to her employers since , she could scarcely have sought Heinz Schorlin as a messenger of love from Els . But if she had not come to the Swiss from one of the Es , what proof did he , Seitz , possess of the guilt of his brother-in-law 's bride ? How should he succeed in making Wolff understand that his beloved Els had wronged him if the maid was to play no part in proving it ? Yesterday evening he had not believed firmly in her guilt ; that very morning it had even seemed to him a shameful thing that he had cast suspicion upon her in the presence of others .