midnight
The doctor would not confess to knowing anything about my uncle , and expressed wonder that he had not yet returned , but said he did not mind how long he had the loan of such a horse . Things went on as before for a while . John began again to press me to marry him . I think it was mainly , I am sure it was in part , that I might never again ride the midnight moor -- `` like a witch out on her own mischievous hook , '' as he had once said . He knew that , if I caught sight of anything like my uncle anywhere , John or no John , I would go after it . There was another good reason , however , besides the absence of my uncle , for our not marrying : John was not yet of legal age , and who could tell what might not lurk in his mother 's threat ! Who could tell what such a woman might not have prevailed on her husband to set down in his will !