one o'clock in the morning
He passed the hat with a characteristic complaint wherever a few guests were assembled , and in view of the vast amusement he was giving was allowed any license in reason . The offerings of the charitable he deposited in the tail pocket of his coat , and presently the weight dragged at him with a grateful pressure , and the silver clanked as he walked . Fortune was not actually staring him in the face , but it was hanging on behind . By one o'clock in the morning Nickie was carrying round a champagne bottle in his left hand , from which he refreshed himself , and he was no longer able to walk a chalk line as wide as a tram with an certainty , and had got into the way of clinging to the curtains and hangings ; but this was all accepted as part of an excellent piece of caricature , and earned our hero some applause . Just before supper a lady , dressed as Portia , came forward , and pinned a neat design of gold laurel leaves and emeralds on the breast of Mr. Nicholas Crips . It was the prize for the best sustained character , which the host had offered his guests in a frivolous mood . Nickie bowed in acknowledgment of applause , and then , with the bottle in one hand , and his hat in the other , he appealed to Portia .