nearly two o’clock
An hour or two passed away ; and the boarders and the plated candlesticks retired in pairs to their respective bedrooms . John Evenson pulled off his boots , locked his door , and determined to sit up until Mr. Gobler had retired . He always sat in the drawing-room an hour after everybody else had left it , taking medicine , and groaning . Great Coram-street was hushed into a state of profound repose : it was nearly two o'clock . A hackney-coach now and then rumbled slowly by ; and occasionally some stray lawyer 's clerk , on his way home to Somers-town , struck his iron heel on the top of the coal-cellar with a noise resembling the click of a smoke-Jack . A low , monotonous , gushing sound was heard , which added considerably to the romantic dreariness of the scene . It was the water ` coming in ' at number eleven .