midnight
`` Thank you , John , '' replied the old woman , as she sank back on her pillow with a little sigh . After leaving Mrs Willis I was detained so long with some of my patients that it was late before I could turn my steps westward . The night was very cold , with a keen December wind blowing , and heavy black clouds driving across the dark sky . It was after midnight as I drew near the neighbourhood of the house in which I had left Dumps so hurriedly that morning . In my haste I had neglected to ask the name of the young lady with whom I had left him , or to note the number of the house ; but I recollected its position , and resolved to go round by it for the purpose of ascertaining the name on the door . In one of the dirtiest of the dirty and disreputable dens of London , a man and a boy sat on that same dark December night engaged in earnest conversation . Their seats were stools , their table was an empty flour-barrel , their apartment a cellar .