three in the
morning of New Year's Day
And , the next morning , the fevered , scarlet-eyed perjurer might creep shaking to his wretched tasks , only to behold the cause of his folly and headache tripping merrily along the street , smiling , clean-shaven , and fresh as a dew-born primrose , with , perchance , two or three of the prettiest girls in town at his elbow to greet his sallies with approving laughter . Crailey had been so long in the habit of following every impulse , no matter how mad , that he enjoyed an almost perfect immunity from condemnation , and , whatever his deeds , Rouen had learned to say , with a chuckle , that it was `` only Crailey Gray again . '' But his followers were not so privileged . Thus , when Mr. Gray , who in his libations sometimes developed the humor of an urchin , went to the Pound at three in the morning of New Year 's Day , hung sleigh-bells about the necks of the cattle and drove them up and down the streets , himself hideously blowing a bass horn from the back of a big brown steer , those roused from slumber ceased to rage , and accepted the exploit as a rare joke , on learning that it was `` only Crailey Gray ; '' but the unfortunate young Chenoweth was heavily frowned upon and properly upbraided because he had followed in the wake of the bovine procession , mildly attempting to play upon a flageolet . Crailey never denied a folly nor defended an escapade . The latter was always done for him , because he talked of his `` graceless misdoings '' -LRB- so he was wont , smilingly , to call them -RRB- over cups of tea in the afternoons with old ladies , lamenting , in his musical voice , the lack of female relatives to guide him . He was charmingly attentive to the elderly women , not from policy , but because his manner was uncontrollably chivalrous ; and , ever a gallant listener , were the speaker young , old , great or humble , he never forgot to catch the last words of a sentence , and seldom suffered for a reply , even when he had drowsed through a question .