midnight
All was brightness and promise , excepting in the street below , into which -LRB- for it yet lay in shadow -RRB- the eye looked down as into a dark trench , where , in the midst of so much life , and hope , and renewal of existence , stood the terrible instrument of death . It seemed as if the very sun forbore to look upon it . But it was better , grim and sombre in the shade , than when , the day being more advanced , it stood confessed in the full glare and glory of the sun , with its black paint blistering , and its nooses dangling in the light like loathsome garlands . It was better in the solitude and gloom of midnight with a few forms clustering about it , than in the freshness and the stir of morning : the centre of an eager crowd . It was better haunting the street like a spectre , when men were in their beds , and influencing perchance the city 's dreams , than braving the broad day , and thrusting its obscene presence upon their waking senses . Five o'clock had struck -- six -- seven -- and eight . Along the two main streets at either end of the cross-way , a living stream had now set in , rolling towards the marts of gain and business .