midnight
Bad writing was n't talk , as many people seemed to think , and even good was n't always to be compared to it . From the best talk indeed the best writing had something to learn . I fancifully added that we too should peradventure be gilded by the legend , should be pointed at for having listened , for having actually heard . Gravener , who had glanced at his watch and discovered it was midnight , found to all this a retort beautifully characteristic of him . `` There 's one little fact to be borne in mind in the presence equally of the best talk and of the worst . '' He looked , in saying this , as if he meant great things , and I was sure he could only mean once more that neither of them mattered if a man was n't a real gentleman . Perhaps it was what he did mean ; he deprived me however of the exultation of being right by putting the truth in a slightly different way .