eleven o'clock
he asked himself fiercely , as he strode down the moonlit road ; but beneath the fierceness there was an under-current of petulance , which implied that , whatever `` she '' did want , she had a right to expect . The `` George the Fourth '' was a long low house , situated in Elizabeth Street . Its front was painted a dull red , and the narrow panes of glass in its windows , and the ostentatious affectation of red curtains and homely comfort , gave to it a spurious appearance of old English jollity . A knot of men round the door melted into air as Captain Frere approached , for it was now past eleven o'clock , and all persons found in the streets after eight could be compelled to `` show their pass '' or explain their business . The convict constables were not scrupulous in the exercise of their duty , and the bluff figure of Frere , clad in the blue serge which he affected as a summer costume , looked not unlike that of a convict constable . Pushing open the side door with the confident manner of one well acquainted with the house , Frere entered , and made his way along a narrow passage to a glass door at the further end . A tap upon this door brought a white-faced , pock-pitted Irish girl , who curtsied with servile recognition of the visitor , and ushered him upstairs .