midnight
He had , during the past week , been engaged in the prosecution of his noble profession at Red Dog , and had , in the graphic language of a coadjutor , `` cleared out the town , except his fare in the pockets of the stage-driver . '' `` The Red Dog Standard '' had bewailed his departure in playful obituary verse , beginning , `` Dearest Johnny , thou hast left us , '' wherein the rhymes `` bereft us '' and `` deplore '' carried a vague allusion to `` a thousand dollars more . '' A quiet contentment naturally suffused his personality , and he was more than usually lazy and deliberate in his speech . At midnight , when he was about to retire , he was a little surprised , however , by a tap on his door , followed by the presence of Mistress Peg Moffat , heiress , and landlady of Rockville hotel . Mr. Hamlin , despite his previous defence of Peg , had no liking for her . His fastidious taste rejected her uncomeliness ; his habits of thought and life were all antagonistic to what he had heard of her niggardliness and greed . As she stood there , in a dirty calico wrapper , still redolent with the day 's cuisine , crimson with embarrassment and the recent heat of the kitchen range , she certainly was not an alluring apparition .