midnight
`` Well , Ben , to tell you the truth , there 's an infernally presumptuous old nigger belonging in my family that broke up the arrangement . He came down to the depot and vetoed the whole proceeding . He means all right , and -- well , I reckon he _ is _ right . Somehow , he had found out what I had along -- though I hid it in the bank vault and sneaked it out at midnight . I reckon he has noticed that I 've been indulging a little more than a gentleman should , and he laid for me with some reaching arguments . `` I 'm going to quit drinking , '' Mr. Robert concluded . `` I 've come to the conclusion that a man ca n't keep it up and be quite what he 'd like to be -- ` pure and fearless and without reproach ' -- that 's the way old Bushrod quoted it . ''