midnight
There were many faces which he remembered , there were a few who remembered him . He neither courted nor shunned observation . He sat at dinner-time at a retired table , and found himself watching the people with a stir of pleasure . Afterwards he went round to a famous club , of which he had once been made a life member , but towards midnight he was wearied of the dull decorum of his surroundings , and returning to the hotel , sought the restaurant once more . The stream of people coming in to supper was greater even than at dinner-time . He found a small table , and ordered some oysters . The sight of this bevy of pleasure-seekers , all apparently with multitudes of friends , might have engendered a sense of loneliness in a man of different disposition .