midnight
It was the look of the bison before it gores . It is true , however , that even yet on the countenance there lingered the trace of that lavish favour bestowed on it by nature . An artist would still have said , `` How handsome that ragamuffin must have been ! '' And true is it , also , that there was yet that about the bearing of the man which contrasted his squalor , and seemed to say that he had not been born to wear rags and loiter at midnight amongst the haunts of thieves . Nay , I am not sure that you would have been as incredulous now , if told that the wild outlaw before you had some claim by birth or by nurture to the rank of gentleman , as you would had you seen the gay spendthrift in his gaudy day . For then he seemed below , and now he seemed above , the grade in which he took place . And all this made his aspect yet more sinister , and the impression that he was dangerous yet more profound .