noon
It did not prevent him from walking very fast indeed . He was evidently bent on business ; nevertheless , the business was not so pressing but that he could stop now and then to look at anything that interested him in the crowded streets . And how crowded they were -- and cheerful too : for it was Christmastide , and people seemed to be more excited and hearty than usual . The shops were resplendent -- filled to overflowing with everything that could tempt man to spend money , and blazing with gas-light , so that the streets seemed even brighter than at noon . The poulterers ' shops , in particular , were so stuffed , that rows of fat geese and ducks , apparently finding the crush too much for them inside , seemed to have come outside the shops and hung themselves up round the doors and windows ! The lame man did not linger long , however , but hurried onwards until he reached that quarter of the city near to the Bank of England , where very poor and wretched people lived upon wondrously little of that gold which lay in such huge quantities so near them . In the back slums of this region there were no bright gas-lights .