midnight
`` He may be a good man , and a wise one , but he 's not wise enough to know the way to my heart , and never a man as was ! Eh , Seppy , I 'm a Christian woman , but I 'm not like other Christian women ; and I 'm glad I 'm going away from this stupid world . I 've not been a bad woman , and I deserve credit for it , for it would have suited me a great deal better to be bad . Oh , what a delightful time a witch must have had , starting off up chimney on her broomstick at midnight , and looking down from aloft in the sky on the sleeping village far below , with its steeple pointing up at her , so that she might touch the golden weathercock ! You , meanwhile , in such an ecstasy , and all below you the dull , innocent , sober humankind ; the wife sleeping by her husband , or mother by her child , squalling with wind in its stomach ; the goodman driving up his cattle and his plough , -- all so innocent , all so stupid , with their dull days just alike , one after another . And you up in the air , sweeping away to some nook in the forest ! Ha !