midnight
CHAPTER XI . Dr. Riccabocca , awakened out of his revery by the sound of footsteps , was still so little sensible of the indignity of his position , that he enjoyed exceedingly , and with all the malice of his natural humour , the astonishment and stupor manifested by Stirn , when that functionary beheld the extraordinary substitute which fate and philosophy had found for Lenny Fairfield . Instead of the weeping , crushed , broken-hearted captive whom he had reluctantly come to deliver , he stared speechless and aghast upon the grotesque but tranquil figure of the doctor enjoying his pipe , and cooling himself under his umbrella , with a sangfroid that was truly appalling and diabolical . Indeed , considering that Stirn always suspected the Papisher of having had a hand in the whole of that black and midnight business , in which the stocks had been broken , bunged up , and consigned to perdition , and that the Papisher had the evil reputation of dabbling in the Black Art , the hocus-pocus way in which the Lenny he had incarcerated was transformed into the doctor he found , conjoined with the peculiarly strange eldrich and Mephistophelean physiognomy and person of Riccabocca , could not but strike a thrill of superstitious dismay into the breast of the parochial tyrant ; while to his first confused and stammered exclamations and interrogatories , Riccabocca replied with so tragic an air , such ominous shakes of the head , such mysterious equivocating , long-worded sentences , that Stirn every moment felt more and more convinced that the boy had sold himself to the Powers of Darkness , and that he himself , prematurely and in the flesh , stood face to face with the Arch-Enemy . Mr. Stirn had not yet recovered his wonted intelligence , which , to do him justice , was usually prompt enough , when the squire , followed hard by the parson , arrived at the spot . Indeed , Mrs. Hazeldean 's report of the squire 's urgent message , disturbed manner , and most unparalleled invitation to the parishioners , had given wings to Parson Dale 's ordinarily slow and sedate movements . And while the squire , sharing Stirn 's amazement , beheld indeed a great pair of feet projecting from the stocks , and saw behind them the grave face of Dr. Riccabocca under the majestic shade of the umbrella , but not a vestige of the only being his mind could identify with the tenancy of the stocks , Mr. Dale , catching him by the arm , and panting hard , exclaimed with a petulance he had never before been known to display , -- except at the whisttable , -- `` Mr. Hazeldean , Mr. Hazeldean , I am scandalized , -- I am shocked at you .