about one o'clock
You know the sort of thing -- an orgy : rounders and roués , young cheap sports , old rakes , all the demi-monde , rivers of alcohol ... . Drunken women kicking men 's hats off and lying where they fell ... . Regular bacchanalia . Well , about one o'clock two men in evening clothes came into the gallery and stood looking down into that -- maelstrom of infamous faces ... . Then one of them said : ' _ John the Baptist would have 'em all grovelling in three minutes _ ' ... '' He had told his story with a certain youthful expectancy , the air of one who confides , counting upon a delicate understanding . But Sam O'Neill , though perfectly willing to be delicate , could only say , after an anti-climacteric pause : `` Is that right ? Well , that bunch needed to grovel all right '' -- which was a little vague , say what you would of it , chilling somewhat ... `` Well , what 's your coryphées ' ball but life ? ''