ten o'clock
Soon it became impossible for him to get more than a dollar at a time even from the women , except an occasional windfall through a weak or ignorant new acquaintance . He clung tenaciously to the fifty-cent basis -- to go lower would cheapen him . But for the last two weeks his regular levies had been of twenty-five cents , with not a few descents to ten and even five cents . He reached Goerwitz 's at ten o'clock and promenaded slowly through both rooms twice . Just as he was leaving he espied an acquaintance who was looking fiercely away from him as if saying : `` I do n't see you , and , damn you , do n't you dare see me ! '' But Feuerstein advanced boldly . Twelve years of active membership in that band of `` beats '' which patrols every highway and byway and private way of civilization had thickened and toughened his skin into a hide .