midnight
Patience , patience , good Simpson ; thou shalt yet riot in the very satiety of thy vengeance . But now to put in operation my first method -- an ingenious one it is , too -- of avenging my wrongs ! ' `` Among the various wines with which the extensive cellar was abundantly stocked , was a large cask containing a particular kind , of a very rich and peculiar flavor ; and of this wine I knew Lady Hawley , who was a luxurious woman , very fastidious in her taste , to be especially fond . Captain St. Clair , too , preferred it above all other kinds ; and at the midnight suppers which he so often enjoyed with her ladyship , the ruby contents of this particular cask was most frequently called into requisition , as I well know , for I had been accustomed to carry it from the cellar to the door of the bed-chamber wherein the amorous pair indulged in the joys both of Venus and of Bacchus . The wine had been imported by his lordship , who was a _ bon vivant _ , from Bordeaux and was particularly valued for its rich color , solid body , and substantial yet delicate flavor , rivalling in these qualities , perhaps , that classic beverage , the famed Greek wine . '' ` I will add to the exquisite flavor of this wine , ' said I -- ` her ladyship and her lover shall banquet on human blood ; the corruption of a putrifying corpse shall be mingled with the sparkling fluid that nourishes their unholy passions . ' `` With but little difficulty , and less noise , -LRB- for I well understood such matters , -RRB- I removed the head of the cask , which I found to be about half full .