midnight
when the text seemed to require it : which was always a signal to Mr. Dick -LRB- a perfect country gentleman -RRB- to follow lustily with the same cry . But Mr. Dick got taxed with such things in the course of his Parliamentary career , and was made responsible for such awful consequences , that he became uncomfortable in his mind sometimes . I believe he actually began to be afraid he really had been doing something , tending to the annihilation of the British constitution , and the ruin of the country . Often and often we pursued these debates until the clock pointed to midnight , and the candles were burning down . The result of so much good practice was , that by and by I began to keep pace with Traddles pretty well , and should have been quite triumphant if I had had the least idea what my notes were about . But , as to reading them after I had got them , I might as well have copied the Chinese inscriptions of an immense collection of tea-chests , or the golden characters on all the great red and green bottles in the chemists ' shops ! There was nothing for it , but to turn back and begin all over again .