midnight
He knew that the Jews might be down on him any night that he sat at the Guards ' mess , flirted with foreign princesses , or laughed at the gossamer gossip of the town over iced drinks in the clubs . His liabilities were tremendous , his resources totally exhausted ; but such was the latent recklessness of the careless Royallieu blood , and such the languid devil-may-care of his training and his temper , that the knowledge scarcely ever seriously disturbed his enjoyment of the moment . Somehow , he never realized it . If any weatherwise had told the Lisbon people of the coming of the great earthquake , do you think they could have brought themselves to realize that midnight darkness , that yawning desolation which were nigh , while the sun was still so bright and the sea so tranquil , and the bloom so sweet on purple pomegranate and amber grape , and the scarlet of odorous flowers , and the blush of a girl 's kiss-warmed cheek ? A sentimental metaphor with which to compare the difficulties of a dandy of the Household , because his `` stiff '' was floating about in too many directions at too many high figures , and he had hardly enough till next pay-day came round to purchase the bouquets he sent and meet the club-fees that were due ! But , after all , may it not well be doubted if a sharp shock and a second 's blindness , and a sudden sweep down under the walls of the Cathedral or the waters of the Tagus , were not , on the whole , a quicker and pleasanter mode of extinction than that social earthquake -- `` gone to the bad with a crash '' ? And the Lisbonites did not more disbelieve in , and dream less of their coming ruin than Cecil did his , while he was doing the season , with engagements enough in a night to spread over a month , the best known horses in the town , a dozen rose-notes sent to his clubs or his lodgings in a day , and the newest thing in soups , colts , beauties , neckties , perfumes , tobaccos , or square dances waiting his dictum to become the fashion .