twelve o'clock
But he was one of those men who , as in youth they are never very young , so in age are they never very old . He could still ride his cob in the park jauntily ; and did so carefully every morning in his life , after an early cup of tea and before his breakfast . And he could walk home from his chambers every day , and on Sundays could do the round of the parks on foot . Twice a week , on Wednesdays and Saturdays , he dined at that old law club , the Eldon , and played whist after dinner till twelve o'clock . This was the great dissipation and , I think , the chief charm of his life . In the middle of August he and his daughter usually went for a month to Wharton Hall in Herefordshire , the seat of his cousin Sir Alured Wharton ; -- and this was the one duty of his life which was a burthen to him . But he had been made to believe that it was essential to his health , and to his wife 's , and then to his girl 's health , that he should every summer leave town for a time , -- and where else was he to go ?