midnight
Mistress , fetch us the bell-glasses , and here to the Reverend Vice-Principal of Molk ! our good friend : when will my wife forget what he said to her on the morning of last holy Ascension ! Fill again , fill again ! '' Inspired by the convivial spirit of the pious and jolly postmaster , Essper George soon forgot his threatened visit to his bedroom , and ate and drank , laughed and joked , as if he were again with his friend , Master Rodolph ; but wearied Nature at length avenged herself for this unnatural exertion , and leaning back in his chair , he was , in the course of an hour , overcome by one of those dead and heavy slumbers the effect of the united influence of fatigue and intemperance ; in short , it was like the midnight sleep of a fox-hunter . No sooner had our pious votary of the Black Lady of Altoting observed the effect of his Hungary wine than , making a well-understood sign to his wife , he took up the chair of Essper in his brawny arms , and , preceded by Mrs. Postmistress with a lantern , he left the room with his guest . Essper 's hostess led and lighted the way to an outhouse , which occasionally served as a coach-house , a stable , and a lumber-room . It had no window , and the lantern afforded the only light which exhibited its present contents .