midnight
He felt an almost irresistible desire to spring from his bed and heap fuel on the dying embers , expecting by the blaze to see some strange sight in his chamber . He was also strongly tempted to awaken Wildrake ; but shame , stronger than fear itself , checked these impulses . What ! should it be thought that Markham Everard , held one of the best soldiers who had drawn a sword in this sad war -- Markham Everard , who had obtained such distinguished rank in the army of the Parliament , though so young in years , was afraid of remaining by himself in a twilight-room at midnight ? It never should be said . This was , however , no charm for his unpleasant current of thought . There rushed on his mind the various traditions of Victor Lee 's chamber , which , though he had often despised them as vague , unauthenticated , and inconsistent rumours , engendered by ancient superstition , and transmitted from generation to generation by loquacious credulity , had something in them , which , did not tend to allay the present unpleasant state of his nerves .