midnight
`` Divided by two , '' replied the young nobleman , and the Blucher of bank-notes was proffered to him . He smiled queerly , hesitating to take it . `` I was looking for you at all the Clubs last night , '' said Algernon . Lord Suckling and Latters had been at theirs , playing whist till past midnight ; yet is money , even when paid over in this egregious public manner by a nervous hand , such testimony to the sincerity of a man , that they shouted a simultaneous invitation for him to breakfast with them , in an hour , at the Club , or dine with them there that evening . Algernon affected the nod of haste and acquiescence , and ran , lest they should hear him groan . He told the cabman to drive Northward , instead of to the South-west . The question of the thousand pounds had been decided for him -- `` by fate , '' he chose to affirm .