midnight
That dim and uncertain condition concerning vampyres , originating probably as it had done in Germany , had spread itself slowly , but insidiously , throughout the whole of the civilized world . In no country and in no clime is there not something which bears a kind of family relationship to the veritable vampyre of which Sir Francis Varney appeared to be so choice a specimen . The _ ghoul _ of eastern nations is but the same being , altered to suit habits and localities ; and the _ sema _ of the Scandinavians is but the vampyre of a more primitive race , and a personification of that morbid imagination which has once fancied the probability of the dead walking again among the living , with all the frightful insignia of corruption and the grave about them . Although not popular in England , still there had been tales told of such midnight visitants , so that Mrs. Chillingworth , when she had imparted the information which she had obtained , had already some rough material to work upon in the minds of her auditors , and therefore there was no great difficulty in very soon establishing the fact . Under such circumstances , ignorant people always do what they have heard has been done by some one else before them and in an incredibly short space of time the propriety of catching Sir Francis Varney , depriving him of his vampyre-like existence , and driving a stake through his body , became not at all a questionable proposition . Alas , poor Mr. Chillingworth ! as well might he have attempted King Canute 's task of stemming the waves of the ocean as that of attempting to stop the crowd from proceeding to Sir Francis Varney 's house .