midnight
` You are going to blow me to atoms , Doctor , ' he with difficulty articulated , as a ghastly smile spread over his hideous features -- ` I thank you for it ; although I hate and curse you in this my dying hour . Grant me a moment longer ; if the spirits of the dead are allowed to re-visit the earth , _ my _ spirit shall visit you ! Ha , ha , ha ! In a few seconds , I shall be free from the power of your torture -- free to follow you like a shadow through life , free to preside in ghastly horror over your midnight slumbers and to breathe constantly in your ear , curses -- curses -- curses ! ' ` Miserable devil , your blood-polluted spirit will be too strongly bound to hell , to wander on earth , ' said the Doctor , with a contempt not unmingled with pity . ` Farewell , thou man of many crimes ; for the wrongs you have done me , I forgive you , but human and divine justice have demanded this sacrifice . ' He ignited a match , touched it to the paper at the end of the straw , and hastily retreated to the further extremities of the room .