midnight
The good effects of this stratagem were almost instantaneous . His performance became the topic of discourse among all the fashionable company . His male friends complimented him from the information of the other sex ; and that lady whom he had regaled , instead of that shyness and disdain with which she used to receive his salutation , at their very next meeting in the thoroughfare , returned his bow with marks of profound respect . Nay , at midnight , she , with the rest , took post in the same place where they had been stationed before ; and , by frequent tittering , and repeated whispers , gave intimation to Fathom , that they would be glad of a second serenade . But he was too well acquainted with the human passions to indulge this their desire . It was his interest to inflame their impatience , rather than to gratify their expectation ; and therefore he tantalised them for some hours , by tuning his violin , and playing some flourishes , which , however , produced nothing to fulfil their wishes . At the ordinary , he was accosted by a gentleman , a lodger in the same house , who assured him , that the ladies would take it as a great favour if he would let them know when he intended to amuse himself again with his instrument , that they might not , by falling asleep beforehand , deprive themselves of the pleasure of hearing his music .