midnight
The first persons to be written to are Dick 's brother and the Earl of Dorincourt 's family lawyer . '' And actually , before the sun went down , two letters had been written and sent in two different directions -- one speeding out of New York harbor on a mail steamer on its way to England , and the other on a train carrying letters and passengers bound for California . And the first was addressed to T. Havisham , Esq. , and the second to Benjamin Tipton . And after the store was closed that evening , Mr. Hobbs and Dick sat in the back-room and talked together until midnight . It is astonishing how short a time it takes for very wonderful things to happen . It had taken only a few minutes , apparently , to change all the fortunes of the little boy dangling his red legs from the high stool in Mr. Hobbs 's store , and to transform him from a small boy , living the simplest life in a quiet street , into an English nobleman , the heir to an earldom and magnificent wealth . It had taken only a few minutes , apparently , to change him from an English nobleman into a penniless little impostor , with no right to any of the splendors he had been enjoying .