midnight
It was managed eventually by boring separate wells for a weight behind the hinges on either side . Copper wire running on minute pulleys let into grooves suspended these weights and connected them with the flaps , and powerful door-springs supplemented the more elaborate contrivance . The lever controlling the whole was concealed under the counter , and reached by thrusting a foot through a panel , which also opened inward on a spring . It may be conceived that all this represented the midnight labors and the constant thought of many weeks . It was now the beginning of the cool but brilliant Riverina winter , and , despite the disparity in their years , the two Scotsmen were fast friends . They had worked together as one man , with the same patient passion for perfection , the same delight in detail for its own sake . Almost the only difference was that the old fellow refreshed his energies with the glass of whiskey which was never far from his elbow after banking hours , while the young one cultivated the local excess of continual tea .