midnight
If this beastly bottle of ginger-beer has n't gone and burst in the middle of my box ! '' The first meeting of the supper club was a great success . How ever Acton and his noble friends had managed to smuggle upstairs , under their jackets , a pork-pie , a plum-cake , a bag of tarts , and a pound of biscuits , was a feat which , as Jack Vance remarked , `` beat conjuring . '' Shortly after midnight the Triple Alliance wended their way to the `` House of Lords , '' where they found the three other members quite ready to commence operations . The good things were spread out on the top of a chest of drawers , and the company ranged themselves round on the available chairs and two adjacent beds , and commenced to enjoy the repast . `` Ah , well , '' sighed Acton , with his mouth full of pork-pie , `` I 'm rather glad for some things that I did n't get engaged . It must be rather a bore having to spend all your money in rings and that sort of thing , instead of in grub ; though I really think I 'd have given up grub for Miss Eleanor . ''