midnight
`` Why , sir , Mr. Richard knows everything , whether he was born or not . '' `` No , he does n't , you old goose ; he does n't know how you and I sat looking at one another , and pretending to fumble , and counting out slowly , waiting sick at heart for the sack of guineas that was to come down by coach . If it had not come we should not have broken , but we should have suspended payment for twenty-four hours , and I was young enough then to have cut my throat in the interval . '' `` But it came , sir -- it came , and you cried , ` Keep the bank open till midnight ! ' and when the blackguards heard that , and saw the sackful of gold , they crept away ; they were afraid of offending us . Nobody came anigh us next day . Banks smashed all round us like glass bottles , but Hardie & Co. stood , and shall stand for ever and ever .