midnight
`` We have been told by the worthy gentlemen , his employers , that so trustworthy did they consider the prisoner at the bar , so able in their affairs and assiduous in their service , that this very day it was in their minds to increase his pay and to raise him quite above his fellow clerks to an honourable post indeed . He did not give them time , gentlemen , he did not give them time ! The hour is here , the notes are sewn within the lining of our well-brushed riding-coat , the master key is in our itching palm ! We 'll lurk until midnight , then in the dark room we will unlock the drawer . If we are heard , softly as we step in the silence of the night -- if a watchman come -- the worse for the watchman ! We carry pistols , and the butt of one against his forehead will do the work . For we are bold , gentlemen , we are as bold as Cæsar or Buonaparte !