midnight
What else had he to do now but to return and complete his part of the bargain ? What else but that , and be a wretched , miserable , degraded man for the rest of his days ; lower , viler , more contemptible , infinitely lower , even than his brother clerics at the office , whom in his pride he had so much despised ? He walked from Norfolk Street into the Strand , and there the world was still alive , though it was now nearly one o'clock . The debauched misery , the wretched outdoor midnight revelry of the world was there , streaming in and out from gin-palaces , and bawling itself hoarse with horrid , discordant , screech-owl slang . But he went his way unheeding and uncontaminated . Now , now that it was useless , he was thinking of the better things of the world ; nothing now seemed worth his grasp , nothing now seemed pleasurable , nothing capable of giving joy , but what was decent , good , reputable , cleanly , and polished . How he hated now that lower world with which he had for the last three years condescended to pass so much of his time !