ten o'clock
* * * * * At four o'clock that afternoon , a long white envelope crossed Tom 's blotter . There was a check to the amount of a month 's salary enclosed , and a briefly-worded message from the office of the president . When he left the office , Ostreich 's rolling phrases buzzed in his head like swarming gnats . '' ... a mockery of a great profession ... lowering of dignity ... incompatible with the highest ideals of ... '' At ten o'clock that night , Tom was telling his troubles to a red-coated man behind a chromium bar on Forty-ninth Street . The man listened with all the gravity of a physician , and lined up the appropriate medicine in front of his patient . By midnight , Tom was singing Christmas carols , in advance of the season , with a tableful of Texans . At one o'clock , he swung a right cross at a mounted policeman , missed , and fell beneath the horse 's legs .