midnight
followed the example of the Brownies . Strong curiosity made me linger for a moment , as the door was opened inch by inch , and I had a glimpse of what to this day I can not remember without laughing . One of the lords of the creation slowly advanced through it , robed in a long red dressing-gown , a candle in one hand , a loaded blunderbuss in the other , and with a most ludicrous expression on his pallid face , as though he were making up his mind to kill somebody , but was a little afraid that somebody might kill him instead ! His wife , looking ghastly in her curl-papers with her eyes and mouth wide open in fright , was trying to pull him back , and was evidently terrified to glance round the kitchen , lest some midnight robber should meet her gaze . Away I scudded , my sides shaking with mirth , leaving the broken jar and the scattered fruits to tell their own tale , and wondering with what stories of midnight alarms the valiant husband and his devoted spouse would amuse their family in the morning . I was glad to see Oddity 's kind ugly face again in our native shed . How much I had to tell him !