midnight
He took life as he found it , without enthusiasm as without bitterness . He was not wealthy . More than sixty years old , he found himself , after a life of hard , rough and continuous struggle , as badly off as when he started out on his career , full of burning hopes . He had passed his life honorably as a journalist -- a journalist of the good old times , of the school of thought , not of news-tellers , -- he had loyally and conscientiously exercised a profession in which he took pleasure ; he had read much , written much , consumed much midnight oil , touched upon everything ; put his fingers into every kind of pie without soiling them , and after having valiantly turned the heavy millstone of daily labor incessantly renewed for forty years , he had reached the end of his journey , the brink of the grave , almost penniless , after having skirted Fortune and seen Opportunity float toward him her perfumed and intoxicating locks more than a hundred times . Bent , weary , almost forgotten , and unknown and misunderstood by the new generation , that styled this enthusiasm , more eager , moreover , than that of juvenile faith , `` old '' -- he saw the newcomers rise as he might have beheld the descent of La Courtille . `` It amuses me . '' Ramel had , in the course of his career as a publicist , as a dealer in fame , assisted without taking part therein , in the formation of syndicates , allotments of shares and financial intrigues ; and putting his shoulder to the wheel of enterprises that appeared to him to be solid , while seeking to strike out those which appeared to be doubtful , he had created millionaires without asking a cent from them , just as he had made ministers without accepting even a thread of ribbon at their hands .