ten o'clock
he muttered . `` Damn him ! '' Then Dillingham had a sort of fit , due no doubt partly to the fact that he had drunk more champagne than was good for him ; for he trembled with a kind of ague and then broke out in a sweat and blubbered , and uttered incoherent oaths , until I was half beside myself lest he should keep it up all night and I should not get the money from him . But at last he regained control of himself and promised to borrow the fifty thousand dollars the first thing in the morning and to have it at my office at ten o'clock . Yet , as I bade him good night , he had another turn of terror and his teeth chattered in his head as he stammered out that he was a ruined man , that he had cast off a good wife for a deceitful hussy who only wanted his money , that he had lost his child , that now his career was over , and that , unless I stood by him , he would end his days in prison . This was hardly the sort of encouragement I wanted ; and though his words brought the cold sweat out upon my back , I told him pretty sharply that he had better pull himself together and not be any more of a fool than he could help , that all we needed was enough money to whip Hawkins out of the way , and that if he would `` come up '' with the needful we would look out for him . I left him a disgusting sight , sitting in a red plush armchair , with his face in his hands , his hair streaking down across his forehead , moaning and mumbling to himself .