eight o'clock
By dinner , his brain was well clouded and the panic forgotten . By bedtime , with the assistance of Scotch whiskey , he was full -- not violently nor uproariously full , nor stupefied , but merely well under the influence of a pleasant and mild anesthetic . Next morning he awoke with parched lips and mouth , and with sensations of heaviness in his head which quickly passed away . By eight o'clock he was at his desk , buckled down to the fight , by ten o'clock on his personal round of the banks , and after that , without a moment 's cessation , till nightfall , he was handling the knotty tangles of industry , finance , and human nature that crowded upon him . And with nightfall it was back to the hotel , the double Martinis and the Scotch ; and this was his program day after day until the days ran into weeks . Though Daylight appeared among his fellows hearty voiced , inexhaustible , spilling over with energy and vitality , deep down he was a very weary man . And sometime under the liquor drug , snatches of wisdom came to him far more lucidity than in his sober moments , as , for instance , one night , when he sat on the edge of the bed with one shoe in his hand and meditated on Dede 's aphorism to the effect that he could not sleep in more than one bed at a time .