midnight
I asked . ``` The phantom -- the black phantom ! ' `` Then he told us that for several nights he had seen what he kept calling the black phantom . It came into the park at the stroke of midnight and glided stealthily through the trees ; it appeared to him to pass through the trunks of the trees . Twice he had seen it from his window , by the light of the moon and had risen and followed the strange apparition . The night before last he had almost overtaken it ; but it had vanished at the corner of the donjon . Last night , however , he had not left the chateau , his mind being disturbed by a presentiment that some new crime would be attempted .