nine o'clock
His name was derived from an inveterate habit of stuttering with which he was afflicted ; and he related the issue of his search somewhat in the following manner : ` You see , I ha-ha-happened to be l-loafing down Wa-Wa-Washington street , this evening , quite pro-miscus like , ven I seed two vim-vimmen , as vos gallus ha-handsum , and dr-dressed to kill , a valking along , vich puts me in m-m-mind of the F-F-Franklin vimmen , as you hired me to f-f-find out . So I up and f-follers 'em , and by-and-by a f-fellers meets 'em and says , says he , ` Good evening , Missus and Miss F-F-Franklin . ' These is the werry victims , says I to myself ; and I f-f-foller them till they goes into a house in Wa-Washington street -- and here I am . ' ` You have done well , Tom , ' said the Dead Man , approvingly -- ` you must now conduct us to the house in Washington street which the ladies entered : it is nine o'clock , and time that we should be up and doing . ' Stuttering Tom led the way , and the three issued from the house . Ann street was ` all alive ' at that hour ; from every cellar came forth the sound of a fiddle , and the side-walks were crowded with a motley throng of Hibernians , Ethiopians , and Cyprians of an inferior order . Talk of Boston being a moral city !