midnight
`` My dear Roebuck , '' I replied , `` do you suppose I 'm the man to put all my eggs into one basket -- and that basket Wall Street ? '' And I refused to talk any more politics with him . We dined together , I calm and in the best of spirits ; we went to a musical farce , and he watched me glumly as I showed my lightness of heart . Then I went alone , at midnight , to the Chicago Express sleeper -- to lie awake all night staring at the phantoms of ruin that moved in dire panorama before me . In every great affair there is a crisis at which one must stake all upon a single throw . I had staked all upon Wall Street . Without its contributions , Woodruff 's arrangements could not be carried out .