midnight
I thought I had quite forgotten it . Just think ! it is forty years since I have had a foil in my hands , '' and , laughing like a boy he crossed the room , picked up the foil , and , bowing low , handed it to the crestfallen man with the air of a gallant . Half the club , costumed as they were -- it was now after midnight , and there were but few people in the streets -- escorted the two old men back to their hotel . Munson walked beside Richard ; Waller , his flowing skirts tucked up inside his overcoat , stepped on the right of Nathan ; Oliver , Fred , and the others followed behind , the hubbub of their talk filling the night : even when they reached the side door of the hotel and rang up the night porter , they must still stand on the sidewalk listening to Richard 's account of the way the young gallants were brought up in his day ; of the bouts with the foils ; and of the duels which were fought before they were willing to take their leave . When the last good-byes had been given , and Oliver had waved his rapier from the doorstep as a final farewell to his fellow-members before he saw his father upstairs to bed , and the delighted escort had turned on their heels to retrace their steps up Broadway , Waller slipped his arm into Munson 's , and said , in his most thoughtful tone , one entirely free from cynicism or badinage : `` What a lovely pair of old duffers . We talk about Bohemia , Munson , and think we 've got it , but we have n't .