nearly five o'clock in the morning
replied Titmouse : Gammon shook him by the hand -- feeling , when he had shut both his doors , as if he had been playing with an ape . `` Oh , thou indefinable and undiscoverable principle regulating human affairs ! '' thought he , falling into a revery , a bitter scowl settling on his strongly-marked features ; `` of what nature soever thou art , and if any such there really be , what conceivable purpose canst thou have had in view in placing this execrable idiot and ME , in our relative positions ? '' He pursued this line of reflection for some time , till he had got into a far more melancholy and misanthropical humor than he had ever before fallen into -- till , recollecting himself , and with a deep sigh , he rang for a fresh supply of coffee from his drowsy laundress ; and then exerted himself vigorously till nearly five o'clock in the morning , at which hour he sank , exhausted , into bed . During the ensuing day , sure enough , he received a communication signed '' _ Simeon Spitfire _ , '' and dated from '' _ Scorpion Court _ , '' informing him that its respectable writer `` was instructed to apply to him , on the part of Mr. Titmouse , for the immediate delivery up of two promissory notes for £ 5,000 each , given by one Charles Aubrey to the aforesaid Titmouse , '' and `` begging Mr. Gammon 's immediate attention thereto . '' Gammon instantly copied out and sent an answer which he had carefully prepared beforehand -- taking very high ground indeed , but slipping in , with a careful inadvertence , an encouraging admission of the strict _ legal _ right of Mr. Spitfire 's client . ' T was , in short , a charming letter -- showing its writer to be one of the most fastidiously high-minded men living ; but producing not the least favorable effect upon the mind of Mr. Spitfire , who instantly forwarded a formal and peremptory demand of the two documents in question .