ten o'clock
` You 'd better go now . ' ` Very well , Annie ; I 'll go instantly . ' He dropped the pen , reduced the gas to a speck of blue , and in half a minute was hurrying along Oxford Street . The hour was ten o'clock , and the month was July ; the evening favoured romance . He turned into Bury Street , and knocked like fate at a front-door with a brass tablet on it , No. 8 of the street . ` No , sir . He is n't in at the moment , sir , ' said the maid who answered Mr. Knight 's imperious summons .