midnight
Fear is my only excuse . Lest they should suspect me , I joined their game , and my forty cents were soon three dollars and seventy . With these ill-gotten gains I visited the gold exchange , then open evenings . My superior intelligence enabled me to place well my modest means , and at midnight I had a competence . Let me be a warning to all young men . Since that night I have never gambled more . I threw the hated badge into the river .