midnight
From that day on I was a daily guest in Vernöcze , and when occasionally I spent a night at home in my own house , next morning I was sure to feel restless and uneasy , and persuaded myself that political reasons required my presence in Vernöcze , and that I must make haste to go there . A number of times the illustrious ladies of the Vernöcze castle descended from their lofty situation to pay a visit to my lowly house , and on these occasions I played the host , and set before them what my cellar and buttery afforded . Then I conducted them through the chambers in which were stored my late uncle 's beloved curiosities , and I told them of the horrors of the olden time , and the history of this ancient seat of my family . There was the story of a walled-up wife and murdered lovers , and we had our `` Woman in White '' and our `` Red Templar , '' who , at the stroke of midnight , duly stalked through locked rooms and corridors , and performed all the actions that could be expected of real and respectable ghosts . These phantoms the countess rather envied me , for Vernöcze could boast of no such token of old nobility ; yet the Vernöczys were counts and the Dumanys only plain gentry . Of course , I was an ardent admirer of the three fairies , only I could not exactly tell which of the three I admired most . Countess Diodora 's philosophical intellect impressed me as much as Countess Cenni 's unruly activity ; and Countess Flamma 's pensive silence affected me none the less , and I looked at her with the reverential awe of the priest before the Holy Virgin .