eight
o'clock
The glare of this advertisers ' paradise was so overpowering that even the marvel-surfeited citizens who crowded the sidewalks would gather in dense groups at a corner , thence to watch and take in the dazzling significance of some sign new to their vision . Curtis noticed many such assemblies before the taxi sped out of the magic area which ends at 42nd Street ; but it was all novel to him ; he could not discuss the contrast between last week 's glorification of Somebody 's Pickles and to-night 's triumph of Everybody 's Whisky , and he was almost bemused by the display , which provided such a bizarre anti-climax to the terrible drama he had just witnessed . It was a positive relief , therefore , when the vehicle bowled swiftly into a quiet cross street , and he was vouchsafed only fleeting glimpses of broad avenues where fresh multitudes of lamps again bade defiance to the night . In one place , an illuminated dial showed that the hour was eight o'clock , and the curiously simple fact of noting the time roused him to a perception of all that had happened since he strolled out of the dining-room of the Central Hotel . He smiled dourly when he remembered the mislaid key . Did it still repose in the bedroom ? Or had a housemaid found it , and restored it to a numbered hook in the office ?