ten o’clock
The coach having turned into a very narrow and dark street , stopped before a house with iron bars to all the windows ; the door-posts of which were graced by the name and title of ` Namby , Officer to the Sheriffs of London ' ; the inner gate having been opened by a gentleman who might have passed for a neglected twin-brother of Mr. Smouch , and who was endowed with a large key for the purpose , Mr. Pickwick was shown into the ` coffee-room . ' This coffee-room was a front parlour , the principal features of which were fresh sand and stale tobacco smoke . Mr. Pickwick bowed to the three persons who were seated in it when he entered ; and having despatched Sam for Perker , withdrew into an obscure corner , and looked thence with some curiosity upon his new companions . One of these was a mere boy of nineteen or twenty , who , though it was yet barely ten o'clock , was drinking gin-and-water , and smoking a cigar - - amusements to which , judging from his inflamed countenance , he had devoted himself pretty constantly for the last year or two of his life . Opposite him , engaged in stirring the fire with the toe of his right boot , was a coarse , vulgar young man of about thirty , with a sallow face and harsh voice ; evidently possessed of that knowledge of the world , and captivating freedom of manner , which is to be acquired in public-house parlours , and at low billiard tables . The third tenant of the apartment was a middle-aged man in a very old suit of black , who looked pale and haggard , and paced up and down the room incessantly ; stopping , now and then , to look with great anxiety out of the window as if he expected somebody , and then resuming his walk . ` You 'd better have the loan of my razor this morning , Mr. Ayresleigh , ' said the man who was stirring the fire , tipping the wink to his friend the boy .