midnight
They chose an hotel some distance down Broadway , within a stone 's throw of Rector 's Restaurant . Peter , with whitened hair , gold-rimmed spectacles , a slouch hat and a fur coat , passed easily enough for an English maker of electrical instruments ; while Sogrange , shabbier , and in ready-made American clothes , was transformed into a Canadian having some connection with theatrical business . They plunged into the heart of New York life , and found the whole thing like a tonic . The intense vitality of the people , the pandemonium of Broadway at midnight , with its flaming illuminations , its eager crowd , its inimitable restlessness , fascinated them both . Sogrange , indeed , remembering the decadent languor of the crowds of pleasure-seekers thronging his own boulevards , was never weary of watching these men and women . They passed from the streets to the restaurants , from the restaurants to the theatre , out into the streets again , back to the restaurants , and once more into the streets . Sogrange was like a glutton .