nearly midnight
Five minutes later Vane was joined by Jarvis . `` We 've settled the business very comfortably , '' said Jarvis . `` Seven o'clock at Battersea Fields . It 's now nearly midnight . We 'll get a rest at the nearest tavern ; have a few hours sleep , and you 'll wake as fresh as a lark . '' Vane made no reply , and Jarvis sliding his arm within that of his companion , led him out of the gardens . They took the direction of Wandsworth , keeping by the river bank , and Jarvis made a halt at a tumbledown rookery of a waterside tavern -- the `` Feathers . ''