midnight
`` Is he ill ? '' I asked in surprise , as it was but the morning before he was at Stair . `` He was carried from the court this afternoon , '' he answered , and at the words I took up my coat and started for Pitcairn 's house to see if there was some help that I could offer . I found him wrapped in flannels in front of a great fire in his own chamber , in as vile a frame of mind as I have ever seen any human being , bearing his indisposition as unphilosophically as I might have done myself , and I spent a highly uncomfortable , dry , and sober evening with him , escaping from his society somewhere at the back of the midnight with a feeling of relief and the intention of getting something to drink . Going down , unattended , I pulled the house-door hard after me to close it for the night , when Pitcairn called me from the window above to ask that I stop by the chemist 's and hurry along a draught for which he was waiting . A light and tricksey snow had begun to fall while I was in the house ; snow which blew in gusts , now from one side , now from another ; snow which came crosswise , to be caught by the high wind and carried up to the tops of the houses ; and over all and around all the fog of the sea and beaten bells sounding far away , as of ships in trouble or as warnings from the shore . I pulled my hat over my eyes , turned the collar of my great-coat around my ears , and took to the middle of the road , looking round warily from side to side to make sure that I was followed by none , for the town had been greatly excited during this winter by statements in the public prints of mysterious disappearances .