about 12:45
This , reader , is a mere sample of the visitations by which that family was perpetually affected , though not afflicted . Sometimes the rushing masses were heavy goods trains , which produced less fuss , but more of earthquake . At other times red lights , intimating equally danger and delay , brought trains to a stand close to the house , and kept them hissing and yelling there as if querulously impatient to get on . The uproar reached its culminating point about 12:45 , on the night of which we write , when two trains from opposite directions were signalled to wait , which they did precisely opposite John Marrot 's windows , and there kept up such a riot of sound as feeble language is impotent to convey . To the accustomed ears the whistle and clank of a checked and angry pilot-engine might have been discerned amid the hullabaloo ; but to one whose experience in such matters was small , it might have seemed as though six or seven mad engines were sitting up on end , like monster rabbits on a bank , pawing the air and screaming out their hearts in the wild delirium of unlimited power and ungovernable fury . Still , although they moved a little , the sleepers did not awake -- so potent is the force of habit ! However , it did not last long .