midnight
But Lilith had vanished . He returned to his labours . The operation took a long time , for he performed it very carefully . Towards midnight , he had finished encasing the body in a close-clinging shell of plaster , which , when broken off , and fitted together , would be the matrix to the form of the dead Wolkenlicht . Before leaving it to harden till the morning , he was just proceeding to strengthen it with an additional layer all over , when a flash of lightning , reflected in all its dazzle from the snow without , almost blinded him . A peal of long-drawn thunder followed ; the wind rose ; and just such a storm came on as had risen some time before at the death of Kuntz , whose spectre was still tormenting the city . The gnomes of terror , deep hidden in the caverns of Teufelsbürst 's nature , broke out jubilant .