midnight
He imputed it , a great deal , to the brandy , which he had kept drinking in such inordinate quantities ; whereas it is probable that this had a soothing , emollient effect , as far as it went , on the Doctor 's emotions ; a sort of like to like , that he instinctively felt to be a remedy , But in truth it was difficult to see these two human creatures together , without feeling their incompatibility ; without having a sense that one must be hostile to the other . The schoolmaster , through his fine instincts , doubtless had a sense of this , and sat gazing at the lurid , wrathful figure of the Doctor , in a sort of trance and fascination : not able to stir ; bewildered by the sight of the great spider and other surroundings ; and this strange , uncouth fiend , who had always been abhorrent to him , -- he had a kind of curiosity in it , waited to see what would come of it , but felt it to be an unnatural state to him . And again the grim Doctor came and stood before him , prepared to make another of those strange utterances with which he had already so perplexed him . That night -- that midnight -- it was rumored through the town that one of the inhabitants , going home late along the street that led by the graveyard , saw the grim Doctor standing by the open window of the study behind the elm tree , in his old dressing-gown , chill as was the night , and flinging his arms abroad wildly into the darkness , and muttering like the growling of a tempest , with occasional vociferations that grew even shrill with passion . The listener , though affrighted , could not resist an impulse to pause , and attempt overhearing something that might let him into the secret counsels of this strange wild man , whom the town held in such awe and antipathy ; to learn , perhaps , what was the great spider , and whether he were summoning the dead out of their graves . However , he could make nothing out of what he overheard , except it were fragmentary curses , of a dreadful character , which the Doctor brought up with might and main out of the depths of his soul , and flung them forth , burning hot , aimed at what , and why , and to what practical end , it was impossible to say ; but as necessarily as a volcano , in a state of eruption , sends forth boiling lava , sparkling and scintillating stones , and a sulphurous atmosphere , indicative of its inward state . -LSB- Endnote : 5 . -RSB-