midnight
And we had the run of the castle park , and very few had that . It was because we were pets of the oldest servingman in the castle -- Felix Brandt ; and often we went there , nights , to hear him talk about old times and strange things , and to smoke with him -LRB- he taught us that -RRB- and to drink coffee ; for he had served in the wars , and was at the siege of Vienna ; and there , when the Turks were defeated and driven away , among the captured things were bags of coffee , and the Turkish prisoners explained the character of it and how to make a pleasant drink out of it , and now he always kept coffee by him , to drink himself and also to astonish the ignorant with . When it stormed he kept us all night ; and while it thundered and lightened outside he told us about ghosts and horrors of every kind , and of battles and murders and mutilations , and such things , and made it pleasant and cozy inside ; and he told these things from his own experience largely . He had seen many ghosts in his time , and witches and enchanters , and once he was lost in a fierce storm at midnight in the mountains , and by the glare of the lightning had seen the Wild Huntsman rage on the blast with his specter dogs chasing after him through the driving cloud-rack . Also he had seen an incubus once , and several times he had seen the great bat that sucks the blood from the necks of people while they are asleep , fanning them softly with its wings and so keeping them drowsy till they die . He encouraged us not to fear supernatural things , such as ghosts , and said they did no harm , but only wandered about because they were lonely and distressed and wanted kindly notice and compassion ; and in time we learned not to be afraid , and even went down with him in the night to the haunted chamber in the dungeons of the castle . The ghost appeared only once , and it went by very dim to the sight and floated noiseless through the air , and then disappeared ; and we scarcely trembled , he had taught us so well .