midnight
Unheeding this advice , the dwarf broke again into an unearthly cachinnation , that frightened the landlord nearly into fits , and seriously discomposed the nervous system even of Sir Norman himself . Then , grinning like a baboon , and still transfixing our puissant young knight with the same tiger-like and unpleasant glare , he nodded a farewell ; and in this fashion , grinning , and nodding , and backing , he got to the door , and concluding the interesting performance with a third hoarse and hideous laugh , disappeared in the darkness . For fully ten minutes after he was gone , the young man kept his eyes blankly fixed on the door , with a vague impression that he was suffering from an attack of nightmare ; for it seemed impossible that anything so preposterously ugly as that dwarf could exist out of one . A deep groan from the landlord , however , convinced him that it was no disagreeable midnight vision , but a brawny reality ; and turning to that individual , he found him gasping , in the last degree of terror , behind the counter . `` Now , who in the name of all the demons out of Hades may that ugly abortion be ? '' inquired Sir Norman . `` O Lord !