midnight
Certainly the Baron de los Oscos presented at such times a formidable aspect , with his scarred face , bloodshot eyes , waxed , fierce-looking moustache , and his figure looking like part of the horse . One 's imagination had to go back to the invasions of the barbarians to find anything equal to it . Neither Alaric , Attila , nor Odoacer could have looked more strange and sinister , nor could they have inspired more terror than he . Judge , then , of the effect upon the timid neighbours when one day he took it into his head to parade the streets of the town at midnight , accompanied by a servant , a man very like him , on another charger . The Countess of Onis was as strange in her way as her brother . She was short and stout , with a pale , round face , dull black eyes , hair plastered down with quince-juice gum , and constantly dressed in the mournful garb of a nun . She lived as secluded in her place , as a nun in a convent .