midnight
A gentle breeze had risen about half an hour ago and was blowing the mist hither and thither , striving to disperse it , but not yet succeeding in mastering it , for it only shifted restlessly to and fro , like the giant garments of titanic ghosts , revealing now a distant peep of sea , anon the interior of a colonnaded cavern , abode of mysterious ghouls , or again a nest of gulls in a deep crevice of the chalk : revealing and hiding again : -- a shroud dragged listlessly over monstrous dead things . Sir Marmaduke de Chavasse had some difficulty in keeping to the footpath which leads from the woods of Acol straight toward the cliffs . Unlike Adam Lambert , his eyes were unaccustomed to pierce the moist pall which hid the distance from his view . Strangely enough he had not cast aside the fantastic accouterments of the French prince , and though these must have been as singularly uncomfortable , as they were inappropriate , for a midnight walk , nevertheless , he still wore the heavy perruque , the dark mustache , broad-brimmed hat , and black shade which were so characteristic of the mysterious personage . He had heard the church clock at Acol village strike half an hour after eleven and knew that the smith would already be waiting for him . The acrid smell of seaweed struck forcibly now upon his nostrils . The grass beneath his feet had become more sparse and more coarse .