midnight
The wide village street seemed empty , with the exception of a black collie lying asleep in the middle of the road , and a patient donkey belonging to a travelling tinker . The clean , sleek country sparrows were enjoying a dust bath , and a long-legged chicken -- evidently a straggler from the brood -- was pecking fitfully at a cabbage stalk , unmindful of the alarmed clucking of the maternal hen . When Elizabeth rejoined them the vicar was with her , and she introduced him to Malcolm . Mr. Charrington had been a handsome man in his youth ; but a sedentary life and a somewhat injudicious burning of the midnight oil had tried his constitution . He had grown pale and thin , and his shoulders were slightly round , so that he looked older than his years . Malcolm thought Cedric 's name of Dr. Dryasdust was not an inapt title . His eyes were a little sunken , though very bright and keen , and his manner was extremely courteous .