about midnight
However , it was odd , when you thought over it , that the city should be ruled by the slums . It was easy to talk about these things ; in fact , Jack talked a great deal about them in the clubs , and occasionally with a knot of men after dinner in a knowing , pessimistic sort of way . Sometimes the discussions were very animated and even noisy between these young citizens . It seemed , sometimes , about midnight , that something might be done ; but the resolution vanished next morning when another day , to be lived through , confronted them . They illustrated the great philosophic observation that it is practically impossible for an idle man who has nothing to do to begin anything today . To do Jack justice , this enforced detention in the country he did not find dull exactly . To be sure it was vacation-time , and his whole life was a vacation , and summer was rather more difficult to dispose of than winter , for one had to make more of an effort to amuse himself .