About midnight
When he had done so he said , ` I strongly urge you to place yourself under my protection for the present , that you may be freed from the impertinent folly and curiosity of some whose infatuation might lead you from that better mind to which I believe you are now happily restored . I wish you to remain for some few hours secluded in the privacy of my own study , where Dr. Downie and the two excellent Professors will administer that ghostly counsel to you , which will be likely to protect you from any return of your unhappy delusion . ' `` The man humbly bowed assent , and was taken by the Mayor 's younger sons to the Mayor 's own house , where he was duly cared for . About midnight , when all was quiet , he was conducted to the outskirts of the town towards Clearwater , and furnished with enough money to provide for his more pressing necessities till he could reach some relatives who reside three or four days ' walk down on the road towards the capital . He desired the man who accompanied him to repeat to the Mayor his heartfelt thanks for the forbearance and generosity with which he had been treated . The remembrance of this , he said , should be ever present with him , and he was confident would protect him if his unhappy monomania shewed any signs of returning . `` Let us now , however , remind our readers that the poacher who threatened Professors Hanky and Panky 's life on Thursday evening last is still at large .