midnight
This widowed mother now lived with him , dependent on him , and loving him with a devoted affection . From a chance meeting in a public billiard-room , an intimacy arose between Victor Carrington and Reginald Eversleigh , which speedily ripened into friendship . The weaker nature was glad to find a stronger on which to lean . Reginald Eversleigh invited his new friend to his rooms -- to champagne breakfasts , to suppers of broiled bones , eaten long after midnight : to card-parties , at which large sums of money were lost and won ; but the losers were never Victor Carrington or Reginald Eversleigh , and there were men who said that Eversleigh was a more dangerous opponent at loo and whist since he had picked up that fellow Carrington . `` I always feel afraid of Eversleigh , when that sallow-faced surgeon is his partner at whist , or hangs about his chair at _ écarté _ , '' said one of the officers in Reginald Eversleigh 's regiment . `` It 's my opinion that black-eyed Frenchman is Mephistopheles in person . I never saw a countenance that so fully realized my idea of the devil . ''