Midnight
With his head throbbing , his tongue and lips stinging from cigarettes , he incredulously counted the number of drinks he had taken , and groaned , `` I got to quit ! '' He had ceased saying , `` I WILL quit ! '' for however resolute he might be at dawn , he could not , for a single evening , check his drift . He had met Tanis 's friends ; he had , with the ardent haste of the Midnight People , who drink and dance and rattle and are ever afraid to be silent , been adopted as a member of her group , which they called `` The Bunch . '' He first met them after a day when he had worked particularly hard and when he hoped to be quiet with Tanis and slowly sip her admiration . From down the hall he could hear shrieks and the grind of a phonograph . As Tanis opened the door he saw fantastic figures dancing in a haze of cigarette smoke .