midnight
The aunt , who was one of the best tellers of ghost-stories in all Germany , had just been recounting one of her longest , and had fallen asleep in the very midst of it . The chamber was remote and overlooked a small garden . The niece lay pensively gazing at the beams of the rising moon as they trembled on the leaves of an aspen tree before the lattice . The castle clock had just tolled midnight when a soft strain of music stole up from the garden . She rose hastily from her bed and stepped lightly to the window . A tall figure stood among the shadows of the trees . As it raised its head a beam of moonlight fell upon the countenance .