nine o’clock
` Always good , ' echoed Tony ; and his grandfather immediately took him on his knee and kissed him , at the same time , with many nods and winks , slyly pointing at the child 's head with his thumb , in order that the housekeeper , otherwise deceived by the admirable manner in which he -LRB- Mr. Weller -RRB- had sustained his character , might not suppose that any other young gentleman was referred to , and might clearly understand that the boy of the watch-box was but an imaginary creation , and a fetch of Tony himself , invented for his improvement and reformation . Not confining himself to a mere verbal description of his grandson 's abilities , Mr. Weller , when tea was finished , invited him by various gifts of pence and halfpence to smoke imaginary pipes , drink visionary beer from real pots , imitate his grandfather without reserve , and in particular to go through the drunken scene , which threw the old gentleman into ecstasies and filled the housekeeper with wonder . Nor was Mr. Weller 's pride satisfied with even this display , for when he took his leave he carried the child , like some rare and astonishing curiosity , first to the barber 's house and afterwards to the tobacconist 's , at each of which places he repeated his performances with the utmost effect to applauding and delighted audiences . It was half-past nine o'clock when Mr. Weller was last seen carrying him home upon his shoulder , and it has been whispered abroad that at that time the infant Tony was rather intoxicated . -LCB- 306 -RCB- * * * * * I was musing the other evening upon the characters and incidents with which I had been so long engaged ; wondering how I could ever have looked forward with pleasure to the completion of my tale , and reproaching myself for having done so , as if it were a kind of cruelty to those companions of my solitude whom I had now dismissed , and could never again recall ; when my clock struck ten . Punctual to the hour , my friends appeared . On our last night of meeting , we had finished the story which the reader has just concluded .