seven o'clock
Meyer Isaacson had no patients and no engagements . He had deliberately kept the day free , in order that he might study , and answer a quantity of letters . He was paying the penalty of his great success , and was one of the hardest worked men in London . At the beginning of the New Year he had even broken through his hitherto inflexible rule , and now he frequently saw patients up till half-past seven o'clock . He dined out much less than in former days , and was seldom seen at concerts and the play . Success , like a monster , had gripped him , was banishing pleasure from his life . He worked harder and harder , gained ever more and more money , rose perpetually nearer to the top of his ambition .