twelve o'clock
The old-maid nature is traceable in me in this further respect , that I feel a perfectly unendurable terror of ghosts , and go on like some little child whom its nurse has frightened with a bogy . What happens is no less than this : that often in broad daylight , and particularly about mid-day , when I 'm looking into the chests and boxes , I suddenly seem to catch a glimpse of my aunt 's peaky nose close beside me , and of her long , lean fingers poking in among the clothes and linen , and rummaging among them . If I take down a teacup , or a saucepan off the wall , to look at them with a feeling of satisfaction , all the rest rattle , and I expect to see a ghostly hand offering me another ; then I throw the things down , and run to the front-room without looking over my shoulder . There I sing or whistle out of the open window into the street , at which Mistress Anne is greatly scandalized : and that the aunt `` walks '' every night at twelve o'clock is a positive and undoubted fact . ' `` Marzell laughed heartily at this . Severin remained grave , and said , ` Let us hear all about that ; it 'll probably turn out to be some trick or other . Fancy a fellow with your enlightened , advanced views , turning spirit-seer ! ' ''