midnight before
I have long since made up my mind to stick to prose ; it is the true medium for a polemical egotist . I want to find some new form of satire ; I feel capabilities that way which shall by no means rust unused . It has pleased Heaven to give me a splenetic disposition , and some day or other I shall find the tongue . '' It was midnight before Julian rose to leave , and he was surprised when he discovered how time had flown . Waymark insisted on his guest 's having some supper before setting out on his walk home ; he brought out of a cupboard a tin of Australian mutton , which , with bread and pickles , afforded a very tolerable meal after four hours ' talk . They then left the house together , and Waymark accompanied his friend as far as Westminster Bridge . `` It 's too bad to have brought you so far at this hour , '' said Julian , as they parted .