midnight
The coach had raced down Red Lion Street . It was in Holborn going eastwards and here the din and clatter were heightened by the shouts of drunken roisterers . The overhanging houses cast deep shadows and the coach was travelling in the gloom . It was past midnight and the lamps hung at every tenth house were extinguished . This was the rule . Then Lavinia became conscious that the carriage was going down hill . It had passed Fetter Lane into which it should have turned and was proceeding towards Holborn Bridge .