one o'clock before
As a mere talker , I shall never listen to the like of Raffles on this side of the sod ; and his talk was seldom garnished by an oath , never in my remembrance by the unclean word . Then he looked like a man who had dressed to dine out , not like one who had long since dined ; for his curly hair , though longer than another 's , was never untidy in its length ; and these were the days when it was still as black as ink . Nor were there many lines as yet upon the smooth and mobile face ; and its frame was still that dear den of disorder and good taste , with the carved book-case , the dresser and chests of still older oak , and the Wattses and Rossettis hung anyhow on the walls . It must have been one o'clock before we drove in a hansom as far as Kensington Church , instead of getting down at the gates of our private road to ruin . Constitutionally shy of the direct approach , Raffles was further deterred by a ball in full swing at the Empress Rooms , whence potential witnesses were pouring between dances into the cool deserted street . Instead he led me a little way up Church Street , and so through the narrow passage into Palace Gardens . He knew the house as well as I did .