midnight
In this first murder , though the motive was dark and unintelligible , yet the agency was not so ; ordinary assassins apparently , and with ordinary means , had assailed a helpless and unprepared family ; had separated them ; attacked them singly in flight -LRB- for in this first case all but one of the murdered persons appeared to have been making for the street door -RRB- ; and in all this there was no subject for wonder , except the original one as to the motive . But now came a series of cases destined to fling this earliest murder into the shade . Nobody could now be unprepared ; and yet the tragedies , henceforward , which passed before us , one by one , in sad , leisurely , or in terrific groups , seemed to argue a lethargy like that of apoplexy in the victims , one and all . The very midnight of mysterious awe fell upon all minds . Three weeks had passed since the murder at Mr. Weishaupt 's -- three weeks the most agitated that had been known in this sequestered city . We felt ourselves solitary , and thrown upon our own resources ; all combination with other towns being unavailing from their great distance . Our situation was no ordinary one .