midnight
At the play , to which they went later , he moved from box to box , from tier to tier , taking snuff with the men , saying charming nothings to the ladies ; the centre always of a laughing throng , whose proximity must surely have been distressful to any persons so unfashionable as to desire to listen to what the actors were saying . He even went behind and upon the stage , as spectators were still permitted to do , although there was less of this confusion than a few years before ; and he was eagerly welcomed wherever he appeared . From the play they repaired to more gay houses , where Tom speedily lost his ten guineas at basset , but was too excited to care , and paid over his stakes with a lordly indifference that did credit to his powers of observation and imitation . It was long past midnight ere they bent their steps homewards , and then , as it was far too late to seek the shelter of Master Cale 's abode , Tom betook himself once more to Lord Claud 's lodgings , and was speedily sound asleep in the most soft and sumptuous bed it had ever been his lot to lie upon . It was Sunday morning , and Tom was making his way , towards the hour of noon , to the house of the perruquier , which he had quitted some four days past , with no intention of so long an absence . The streets were unwontedly quiet , and the cries of the apprentices at the doors of the shops were pleasantly missed . The shops were most of them shuttered up , and the apprentices , clad in their best , were all away to some sport of their own selection in byways and alleys , or lingering about the parks with a knot of footmen and lackeys , watching the fine folk walk in and out .