four o'clock
While he thus captivated the favour and affection of the English nobility , he did not neglect to take other measures in behalf of the partnership to which he had subscribed . The adventure with the two squires at Paris had weakened his appetite for play , which was not at all restored by the observations he had made in London , where the art of gaming is reduced into a regular system , and its professors so laudably devoted to the discharge of their functions , as to observe the most temperate regimen , lest their invention should be impaired by the fatigue of watching or exercise , and their ideas disturbed by the fumes of indigestion . No Indian Brachman could live more abstemious than two of the pack , who hunted in couple , and kennelled in the upper apartments of the hotel in which our adventurer lived . They abstained from animal food with the abhorrence of Pythagoreans , their drink was a pure simple element , they were vomited once a week , took physic or a glyster every third day , spent the forenoon in algebraical calculations , and slept from four o'clock till midnight , that they might then take the field with that cool serenity which is the effect of refreshment and repose . These were terms upon which our hero would not risk his fortune ; he was too much addicted to pleasure to forego every other enjoyment but that of amassing ; and did not so much depend upon his dexterity in play as upon his talent of insinuation , which , by this time , had succeeded so far beyond his expectation , that he began to indulge the hope of enslaving the heart of some rich heiress , whose fortune would at once raise him above all dependence . Indeed , no man ever set out with a fairer prospect on such an expedition ; for he had found means to render himself so agreeable to the fair sex , that , like the boxes of the playhouse , during the representation of a new performance , his company was often bespoke for a series of weeks ; and no lady , whether widow , wife , or maiden , ever mentioned his name , without some epithet of esteem or affection ; such as the dear Count ! the charming Man !