noon
He drooped , however , as soon as he reached the street , and I had no difficulty in following him to a certain gambling den , where he gained three dollars and lost five . From there he went to his lodgings in West Tenth Street . I did not follow him . He had passed through many deep and wearing emotions since noon , and I had not the heart to add another to them . But late the next day I returned to this house and rang the bell . It was already dusk , but there was light enough for me to notice the unrepaired condition of the iron railings on either side of the old stoop and to compare this abode of decayed grandeur with the spacious and elegant apartment in which pretty Mrs. Holmes mourned the loss of her young husband . Had any such comparison ever been made by the unhappy John Graham , as he hurried up these battered steps into the dismal halls beyond ?