nearly midnight before
He has other friends here , of course -- old friends , but you -- '' again she stopped . `` You will appreciate why when you see him . '' So we gave up the poor travesty upon life that we should have seen behind the footlights for a glimpse into one of life 's real dramas . It was nearly midnight before we came to Neuilly and stood awkwardly beside the white cot in the little white room where the Gilded Youth was lying . How the gilding had fallen off ! All white and broken he lay , a crushed wreck of a man , with the cluttering contrivances of science swathing him , binding him , encasing him , holding him miserably together while the tide of life ran out . But when he wakened he could smile .