midnight
He was a neat and gentlemanly villain , and broke his biscuit with a dainty hand . There was a fine polish about his whole person , and a pliant , insinuating style in his conversation , that was , socially , quite irresistible . Save my noble captain , Jack Chase , he proved himself the most entertaining , I had almost said the most companionable man in the mess . Nothing but his mouth , that was somewhat small , Moorish-arched , and wickedly delicate , and his snaky , black eye , that at times shone like a dark-lantern in a jeweller-shop at midnight , betokened the accomplished scoundrel within . But in his conversation there was no trace of evil ; nothing equivocal ; he studiously shunned an indelicacy , never swore , and chiefly abounded in passing puns and witticisms , varied with humorous contrasts between ship and shore life , and many agreeable and racy anecdotes , very tastefully narrated . In short -- in a merely psychological point of view , at least -- he was a charming blackleg . Ashore , such a man might have been an irreproachable mercantile swindler , circulating in polite society .