midnight
Lanfranc had gone to Canterbury . The Conqueror , assured by trusty reporters of the death of Wilfred , rejoiced that so satisfactory an accident had befallen , sparing all publicity and shame to one he could but admire , as he ever admired pluck and devotion . Geoffrey alone remained a guest at a monastic foundation hard by St. Frideswide 's . The midnight bell has struck twelve -- or , rather , has been struck twelve times by the sexton , in the absence of machinery . All is silence and gloom in the church of St. Frideswide , and upon the burial ground around . Three muffled figures stand in a recess of the cloisters . `` This is the door , '' said the sexton ; `` but , holy St. Frideswide , to go down there tonight ! ''