ten
o'clock
`` If he be Mr. Hyde , '' he had thought , `` I shall be Mr. Seek . '' And at last his patience was rewarded . It was a fine dry night ; frost in the air ; the streets as clean as a ballroom floor ; the lamps , unshaken by any wind , drawing a regular pattern of light and shadow . By ten o'clock , when the shops were closed , the by-street was very solitary and , in spite of the low growl of London from all round , very silent . Small sounds carried far ; domestic sounds out of the houses were clearly audible on either side of the roadway ; and the rumour of the approach of any passenger preceded him by a long time . Mr. Utterson had been some minutes at his post , when he was aware of an odd , light footstep drawing near . In the course of his nightly patrols he had long grown accustomed to the quaint effect with which the footfalls of a single person , while he is still a great way off , suddenly spring out distinct from the vast hum and clatter of the city .