midnight
`` That need not prevent us comforting the lady , '' said Count Victor , releasing himself from the grasp . `` Let her alane , let her alane ! '' cried the servant distractedly , following the Frenchman upstairs . Count Victor paid no heed : he was now determined to unveil a mystery that for all he knew might menace himself in this household of strange midnight happenings . The cries of the woman came from the corridor he had guessed her chamber to occupy , and to this he hastened . But he had scarcely reached the corridor when the flambeau Mungo held was suddenly blown out , and this effectively checked his progress . He turned for an explanation .