eleven o'clock
A glow had sprung to his face , and as he spoke he leaned his elbow on the table , and closing his eyes inhaled the delicious aroma of his cigar . Finance interested him always -- wealth in its material mass had a tremendous attraction for him , and he loved not only the sound of figures but the clink of coin . Though he was a lavish liver when it suited his impulses , the modern regard for money as a concrete possession -- a personal distinction -- was strong in his blood ; but here , as in other ways , he was redeemed from positive vulgarity by the very candour with which he confessed his weakness . He drifted presently into stocks , and they sat talking until eleven o'clock , when Adams , after glancing in surprise at the hour , remarked , with a laugh , that he had forgotten he no longer boasted the constitution of his college days . It had been a pleasant evening to both , and as Kemper threw off his coat a little later , he found himself reflecting , not without wonder , that the quiet -- the absolute inaction of the last few hours had refreshed rather than bored him . On the whole he was inclined to admit that he liked Adams better than any man he knew -- liked his assured self-possession , his indifference to small creature comforts ; liked , too , the quiet tolerance which characterised his human relations -- and he impulsively determined that he would arrange to see him often during the next few years . It was time now , he concluded with an admirable midnight resolution , while he struggled in exasperation to unfasten his collar , that he himself should begin to pay a due regard to his health -- to restrict his indulgences ; and he drew an agreeable picture of the consolation that Adams ' friendship might afford to an abstemious man of middle age .