three in the morning
Always , to appearance , off his guard , he was always master of his position , nor could any obstacle make him stand and calculate its dimensions -- it must be surmounted or broken , if his head or the laws should be broken with it ; always pressing , he never seemed to be impressed , and the gain or loss of a case was equally indifferent to him . His passion was action , his desire money ; but the money went as it came -- made without effort and spent without reason . Yet no man hated him ; most loved him ; few admired him ; and even those he might injure by his apparent recklessness could not resist the good nature by which he warded off every attack . He saw at once , after he had dismissed S -- , that he had got hold of a desperate case , and also that he behoved to have recourse to desperate means ; but it seemed to take no grip of his mind for more than a few minutes , by the end of which he was full swing in some other matter of business , to be followed with the same rapidity by something else , and , probably , after that , pleasure till three in the morning , when he would be carried home to an elegant house in a certain species of carriage with one wheel . Nor had even that consummation any effect on to-morrow 's avocations , for which he would be ready at the earliest hour ; and in this case he _ was _ ready . He set about his inquiries , first proceeded to D -- to get a view of the premises -- the room where the young woman lay , where the son slept , and the bedroom of the mother -- and ascertain whether the premises permitted of intercourse with the servants unknown to the farmer and his wife . He next began his precognition of those connected with the house , and , on returning to town , procured access to Mrs. S -- .