nine o’clock
`` Only nine , '' exclaimed Zack , referring ostentatiously to the watch which he had taken out of pawn the day before . `` Pass the rum , Mat , as soon as you 've done with it -- put the kettle on to boil -- and now , my lads , we 'll begin spending the evening in earnest ! '' * * * * * * If any fourth gentleman had been present to assist in `` spending the evening , '' as Zack chose to phrase it , at the small social _ soiree _ in Kirk Street ; and if that gentleman had deserted the festive board as the clock struck nine -- had walked about the streets to enjoy himself in the fresh air -- and had then , as the clock struck ten , returned to the society of his convivial companions , he would most assuredly have been taken by surprise , on beholding the singular change which the lapse of one hour had been sufficient to produce in the manners and conversation of Mr. Valentine Blyth . It might have been that the worthy and simple-hearted gentleman had been unduly stimulated by the reek of hot grog , which in harmonious association with a heavy mist of tobacco smoke , now filled the room ; or it might have been that the second brew of the Squaw 's Mixture had exceeded half a glassful in quantity , had not been diluted to the requisite weakness , and had consequently got into his head ; but , whatever the exciting cause might be , the alteration that had taken place since nine o'clock , in his voice , looks , and manners , was remarkable enough to be of the nature of a moral phenomenon . He now talked incessantly about nothing but the fine arts ; he differed with both his companions , and loftily insisted on his own superior sagacity , whenever either of them ventured to speak a word ; he was by turns as noisy as Zack , and as gruff as Mat ; his hair was crumpled down over his forehead , his eyes were dimmed , his shirt collar was turned rakishly over his cravat : in short , he was not the genuine Valentine Blyth at all , -- he was only a tipsy counterfeit of him . As for young Thorpe , any slight steadiness of brain which he might naturally possess , he had long since parted with , as a matter of course , for the rest of the evening . Mat alone remained unchanged .